Correspondence

Debbie:

Many thanks for your help. May I have scans of the yearbook entries/photograph and a copy of the letter re: J. Henry Baker? Are there student files (transcripts, letters of recommendation) from this period and if so, might I have copies? Davis's family still lives in Baltimore and we can obtain permission if that is still an issue.

I talked with Mark Padvia, who was most helpful. I am going to copy him on this so that he sees what I am up to and why I am asking.

Ed

Mark:

Thank you for looking up J. Steward Davis and establishing that he was a 1914 graduate. Any thing that you could provide me about his years at Dickinson Law School would be much appreciated, including classes attended, transcripts, grades, letters of recommendation, etc. As I noted to Debbie, his family still lives in Baltimore and we can obtain any necessary permissions from them. As I have told Debbie, I am happy to reimburse/pay for scans of what you find. I also appreciate your giving me the lead on Clarence Muse (sp?) as the first black student at the law school (1909). The links between both Dickinsons and the Baltimore African American Community are fascinating. Do you remember who the scholar was who first asked about Muse? Might it have been Tom Cripps?

Ed

At 01:41 PM 2/21/2006, you wrote:
Ed,

Additional information - we also have a letter to Mr. Davis from our President Morgan, dated May 27, 1921, re: J. Henry Baker. Mr. Davis' address is listed as: 14 East Pleasant Street, Baltimore, MD.

Have a good day,
Debbie

-----Original Message-----
From: Library Archives [mailto:archives@dickinson.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 12:54 PM
To: Edward C. Papenfuse
Cc: archives@dickinson.edu; Ege, Deborah
Subject: cc: re: J. Steward Davis

Dear Ed:

Thank you for your inquiry of J. Steward Davis.

Here is what we have found in our records: Mr. Davis signed into the college in Sept. 1909; his parents were John Newton Davis and Anna E. Steward Davis; address is South Street, Harrisburg; date of birth is October 11, 1890, in Middletown, PA; Harrisburg High School is 'where prepared'. His course of study was Latin/Science and he is listed as a Freshmen in the class of 1913. He withdrew in the spring of 1910, reenters in the winter 1911, and withdrew again in June of 1911.

In your 1911 and 1912 yearbooks we find him listed as a Freshmen. The photograph in the 1911 yearbook does picture 2 Afro-american males, however in 1912 they do not appear. The subjects are not identified in the photographs.

The 1925 Alumni Directory lists J. Steward Davis, Esq., 215 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD. He is listed as a non-grad. After 1925, Mr. Davis is listed in several directories but with no address. We could find no other information after 1925.

Another source would be Mark Padvia at the Sheely Library of the Dickinson School of Law. His telephone number is 717-240-5015.

If I can be of further assistance please feel free to contact me at Dickinson.

Sincerely,
Debbie Ege
Specialist
Archives and Special Collections

On Monday, February 20, 2006 11:08 AM, Edward C. Papenfuse wrote:
>
>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 11:08:31 -0500
>From: Edward C. Papenfuse
>To: archives@dickinson.edu
>Subject: J. Steward Davis
>
>Attn: Debbie Ege
>
>Dear Debbie:
>
>Thank you for your help this morning.
>
>I am teaching a class with Professor Larry Gibson at the University of Maryland Law School on Race and the Law, with emphasis this semester on the careers of black lawyers in Baltimore. We have asked the seminar to place their findings on Wikipedia.org and as a model I have edited what we know about J. Steward Davis. He claims to have attended/graduated from Dickinson as an undergraduate and from Dickinson Law School, sometime around 1915. He begins his practice in Baltimore in 1915, is interrupted by service during the first WW, and then goes on to establish a thriving criminal and civil practice up to the day of his disappearance in 1929.
I would be most grateful for any assistance you could give me in finding out more about J. Steward Davis and in particular his years at Dickinson (assuming what we think we know about him is correct).

Sincerely,

Ed Papenfuse