 |  |
A. Pratt Adams, Jr. papers
Descriptive Summary | |
| Repository: | Georgia Historical Society |
| Creator: | Adams, A. Pratt, 1914-1981. |
| Title: | A. Pratt Adams, Jr. papers |
| Dates: | 1957-1971 |
| Extent: | 0.25 cubic feet (1 box) |
| Identification: | MS 2165 |
Biographical/Historical Note
A. Pratt Adams, Jr. (1914-1981) was a third-generation Savannah lawyer in his family’s law firm of Adams, Adams, Brennan, and Gardner. As his father and grandfather before him, Adams earned a B. A. and a law degree from the University of Georgia. He then attended Harvard Law School. He volunteered for duty in the 30th Infantry in the European theater during World War II. After the war, he settled back into his law career in Savannah. In 1978, Adams was elected chairman of C & S Bank. Adams was very active in many civic organizations. and played a role in the desegregation of Savannah in the 1960s.
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains material related to Civic Progress, Inc. This organization was chartered in 1959 to unite citizens in an effort to carry out civic improvement programs. The Savannah-Chatham Civic Progress was apparently based on a similar organization in St. Louis, Missouri, as there are a few documents relating to the St. Louis Civic Progress. This organization addressed issues emerging in the 1960s over desegregation. Business leaders, such as A. Pratt Adams, who founded this group realized that the future of the city’s and their own prosperity depended upon minimizing protests and violence. Materials relating to this organization include by-laws, a charter, minutes, and correspondence.
Adams also was involved with a committee known as the Bi-racial Committee, which included members of Civic Progress as well as some prominent civil rights leaders in Savannah. There are documents relating to this committee as well in the collection. This committee worked on an agreement between several movie theaters, hotels, restaurants, and bowling alleys to allow a certain number of blacks into their establishments at certain times of the day on certain days of the week.
There are also papers in the collection concerning the establishment of a Juvenile Unit within the Savannah Police Department. Adams was on several committees that worked on establishing this unit. There are reports, minutes, and correspondence dealing with this issue. Other papers in this collection include correspondence regarding Coastal Zoning and Historic District regulations.
Index Terms
Administrative Information
Custodial History
Unknown.
Preferred Citation
[item identification], A. Pratt Adams, Jr. papers, MS 2165, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mr. Lane Morrison, 1984.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Georgia Historical Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Division of Library and Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Georgia Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Sponsorship
Encoding funded by a 2012 Documenting Democracy grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.Container List
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 1 | By-laws of Savannah-Chatham Civic Progress, Inc., 1959 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Petition for charter - Civic Progress, Inc. | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Minutes and other material of Civic Progress, Inc. | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Correspondence regarding Civic Progress, Inc., 1959-1970 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Bi-racial Committee Documents | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Correspondence regarding Juvenile Unit, 1961,1966 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Reports in development of a Juvenile Unit in the Savannah Police Department, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1966 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Committee minutes regarding Juvenile Unit, 1962,1966 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Correspondence and minutes - Coastal Zoning, 1968, 1970 | ||||||||||||
Fldr | |||||||||||||
| 10 | Historic Area regulations and related correspondence, 1970-1971 | ||||||||||||