Collection Dates: 1841 -- 1965
(Bulk Dates: 1940s -- 1960s)
3 linear ft.
This document describes a collection of materials held
by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Posted to Internet: March 2000
Acquisition
Note:
Access
and Restrictions:
Photographs: Box 1
Digital
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collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections
Department.
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Fred Dickinson Letts was born near Ainsworth, Iowa, on April 26, 1875. He graduated from Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa in 1897. In 1899, he graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa. After passing the bar exam, Letts began his law practice in Davenport, Iowa. In 1911, Fred Dickinson Letts was appointed judge of the Seventh Judicial District of Iowa where he served until December of 1912. In 1914, he was appointed to the same position, this time remaining there until he was elected to Congress in 1925. A Republican, he spent three terms in the US House of Representatives. President Herbert Hoover appointed Letts an associate justice of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1931. He remained there until his retirement thirty years later. Fred Dickinson Letts died on January 19, 1965.
Scope and Contents
The papers of Fred Dickinson Letts consist of three feet of manuscripts arranged in a rough chronological sequence dating from 1841 to 1965. The collection begins with family papers (1841 -- 1960), such as deeds, mortgages, and photographs. Correspondence (1899 -- 1961) is included from each phase of his career as an attorney, congressman, and judge with letters from Lester Jesse Dickinson, T. Henry Foster, John Hammill, James W. Bollinger, Harrison E. Spangler, Merritt C. Speidel, and Dan W. Turner. The remainder of the collection consists of Letts' speeches, court decisions, clippings, and six scrapbooks.
Box List
Family Papers, 1841 -- 1910.
Parsons College and University of Iowa -- Alumni correspondence and miscellaneous items, 1897 -- 1959, including letters from T. Henry Foster.
Correspondence:
Early career and Iowa District Court Judgeship, 1899 -- 1925, including letters form N. E. Kendell, T. Henry Foster, Robert G. Cousins, L. J. Dickinson, E. T. Meredith, C. W. Ramseyer, W. F. Knopp, and John Hammill.Box 2
Correspondence
Congress, 1925 -- 1930, including letters from John Hammill, Joe R. Lane, Albert F. Dawson, and Harrison E. Spangler.
Scrapbook. Clippings from Congress, 1928? -- 1930.
Speeches, decisions and anecdotes.
Clippings, 1924 -- 1961.
Correspondence
Justice, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1931 -- 1961, including letters from James W. Bollinger, L. J. Dickinson, William F. Riley, Merritt C. Speidel, Philip D. Adler, Earl Hall, and Fred Schwengel.
Miscellaneous publications, 1943 -- 1953.
Biographies, obituaries and memories, 1959 -- 1965.
Scrapbooks (6). Scrapbook no. 4 includes letters from E.P. adler, James W. Bollinger, T. Henry Foster, Harrison E. Spanger, Merritt C. Speidel, and Dan W. Turner.
Caricature
of Judge Letts by Ralph Patterson.