Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives research room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.
Under the Copyright Act of 1976 as amended in 1998, unpublished manuscripts are protected at a minimum through December 31, 2002 or 70 years after the author's death. Researchers are responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
Gloves provided by the State Archives must be worn when handling photographs.
Robert Wilburn Calvert was born February 22, 1905 in Lawrence County, Tennessee to Porter Calvert and Maud Richardson Calvert. His father died in 1912. His mother moved to Texas the following year where she placed Robert and two of his siblings in the State Orphans' Home at Corsicana. He graduated in 1923 from the Home's high school and attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning his law degree in 1931. Calvert practiced law in Hillsboro, soon becoming the Hill County district attorney and then serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the 43rd and 44th Legislatures from 1933 to 1935. He served as Speaker of the House in the 45th Legislature from 1937 to 1939, in the meantime unsuccessfully running for state Attorney General in 1938. During the 1940s he served as the Hillsboro City Attorney, the Hill County Attorney, and president of the Hillsboro Independent School District. In 1950 Calvert was elected an Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, an office which he held until 1961 whereupon he was elected Chief Justice. He held this office until 1972, authoring 378 opinions and serving as the Chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices from 1970 to 1971. Afterward, Calvert went into private practice until 1994, also serving as a member of the Texas State Ethics Advisory Commission from 1984 to 1985. He died October 6, 1994 in Waco and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery. He was survived by two children from the first of two marriages.
(Sources:
Papers in the collection document the career of Texas Supreme Court Justice Robert Calvert during his time on the State Supreme Court serving as Associate Justice (1950-1961) and Chief Justice (1961-1972). Files include rough drafts of judicial opinions, writs of mandamus, motions for rehearing and memoranda to court justices, as well as professional and personal correspondence to various individuals, judicial budget requests, material relating to his involvement in professional organizations, and photographs, dating 1950-1972, undated.
Calvert's opinions (concurring or dissenting), memoranda to other justices and officials, writs of mandamus, and motions for rehearing relating to cases are present in draft and final version, either in handwritten, typewritten, carbon, or photocopy format. These writings constitute the bulk of the collection.
There is also a considerable amount of non-judicial, professional correspondence, including incoming and outgoing responses with job applicants, law students, fellow judges and attorneys, citizens of Texas, and organizations requesting information. Also included are applications from briefing attorney candidates and copies of Calvert's letters to them, indicating acceptance or rejection.
The collection contains miscellaneous professional material relating to Calvert's role in the assignment of judges through the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the authorizing of per diem requests, meetings of the Texas State Board of Law Examiners, and Judiciary budget requests. Also present is correspondence relating to Calvert's professional membership in the American Bar Association, the Texas State Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, and the National Conference of State Chief Justices. Correspondence and other materials document Calvert's involvement with the Texas Civil Judicial Council.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
These records are arranged as received from the donor. They are split into two groups: Supreme Court case files and Professional and personal correspondence and photographs.
(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Calvert papers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Preliminary inventory prepared by unknown staff in 1970s
Minimal processing finding aid prepared by student volunteer Jeremy Zuni, September 2011
Additional finding aid elements and final DACS coding added to finding aid by Laura Saegert, April 2012
Accession number: 1973/164
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by Robert W. Calvert on June 11, 1973.