Correspondence, 1961 October 18 - 1962 January 8

This series comprises about five-sixths of the collection with only a single memorandum relating to Buras, et al. vs. Ellzey, et al. Nelson represented the interests of the Houma Indians in Naguin, et al. vs. Terrebonne School Board, et al. There are only five pieces of correspondence for the case, but two of them contain as enclosures a report and an article by Tulane Anthropologist Ann Fischer, which provide much background information about the Houmas. Laverne Madigan of the Association on American Indian Affairs enlisted Nelson's aid. A field trip to Montague yielded notes taken at a public meeting and photographs. Various documents show academic standing and racial designation of Native American students and compare curriculums at local White and Indian schools. Newspaper clippings chart the progress and the outcome of the successful suit to gain admission for the Native American students to the White schools. Information on the workings of the school system is available in the depositions given by the president of the school board and the school superintendent.

There are 253 pieces of correspondence for St. Augustine High School, et al. vs. Louisiana High School Athletic Association, et al. These letters reveal the repeated attempts of St. Augustine High School, a Catholic, all-mail, Black senior high school, to obtain admission to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and the repeated rejections of their application. Subsequent to their third rejection in 1966 they brought suit, their theory being, "There is in Louisiana a state-sponsored racially segregated interscholastic athletic program; hence the program violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Negro students." Much of the correspondence was between Nelson and Robert H. Grant, Principal at St. Augustine. There are many cover letters for the various pleadings submitted by Nelson, as well as those submitted by opposing counsel, which were forwarded to Grant. The principal was also periodically apprised of the progress of the case and received statements of costs incurred. Other correspondence deals with consultation with the parties involved, their attorneys, witnesses, other interested parties, and officers of the courts, as well as the gathering of information; for example, whether or not and how much local school boards support interscholastic athletics. Even after the plaintiffs received a favorable judgment by the courts, St. Augustine's attempt to participate in the LHSAA was hindered until various eligibility requirements were satisfied. A second suit, later withdrawn, was one of the recourses taken. There are other types of materials pertaining to the case. Bills, receipts, and vouchers illustrate the nature of some of the costs. Memoranda, notes, and collected materials show the evolution of the case, which is set forth in the various pleadings and briefs.

Between 1962 and 1964, Nelson's firm (J. Thomas Nelson being chiefly responsible) handled numerous cases for members of the Taxicab Association in traffic court. The papers include correspondence of 52 pieces, subpoenas, affidavits, motions, IOU's, bills, receipts, traffic tickets, notes, reports, estimates, notices, memoranda, and photographs grouped by the client's surname; and the cases are arranged alphabetically. Occasionally clients who had first come to the firm because of a traffic violation would bring other types of business to them; from preparing an income tax return to handling a criminal matter.

Papers for Guillory, et al. vs. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, et al. comprise nearly one-third of the Nelson collection. There are 131 pieces of correspondence, which set forth the events from the rejection of the applications of two Black women, Pearlie Hardin Elloie and Barbara Marie Guillory, by Tulane University to the awarding of academic scholarships to the women by the University after the Board decided to voluntarily integrate. What took place in the interim was the court suit, in which in the first decision rendered by Judge J. Skelly Wright was favorable to the plaintiffs and an appeal by Tulane, in which Judge Wright's decision was overturned by Judge Frank B. Ellis. The plaintiffs decided against a further appeal, their objectives having been realized when Tulane accepted their enrollment, and Tulane preserved its status as a private university. There are letters written by the plaintiffs and on their behalf as they sought admission to the University and the replies, which came to them. Counsel was first sought from A.P. Tureaud and then with Nelson who brought in Katherine Settle Wright as an associate and procured the services of research assistants. Nelson kept the plaintiffs informed on developments along with others like John B. Furey, who had promoted the women's enrollment, and Rosa Keller, who lent support to the court fight. Correspondence passed with other interested parties, individuals -- sympathetic one to give advice or money or simply express their support and critical ones who expressed that point of view -- and organizations like the American Association of University Professors, the Department of Justice, and Law Reviews from various law schools.

Much correspondence passed between Nelson and opposing counsel John Pat Little including, cover letters for pleadings filed, requests for information and permission to view records, and attempts to clarify issues. Other correspondence is with attorneys who were involved peripherally; officers of the court; sources of information; witnesses; and journalists. Some accounting for the cost of the litigation is found in bills, receipts, and a statement of expenditures pass and anticipated. The manner in which the case was built may be seen in notes, working papers, and collected materials. The case as it was argued before the court is presented in various documents including complaints, exhibits, orders, petitions, motions, memoranda, notices, affidavits, objections, injunctions, notes of evidence, minute entries, answers, requests, briefs, judgments, dismissal, analysis of evidence, transcript of record, and proceedings. The case was discussed and commented upon in the media. Tulane issued a press release announcing its decision to integrate, and Nelson and Katherine Wright jointly issued one congratulating them upon the step. Editorials were given over radio and television. The most extensive newspaper coverage, which the collection has preserved, is found for the Times Picayune and the Tulane Hullaballoo; but there are clippings from other newspapers as well. There are additional newspaper articles along with exhibits in Box 18, an oversize container.

For State of Louisiana vs. Sidney L. Goldfinch, Jr. et al., subsequently Rudolph Lombard, et al. vs. Louisiana there are four pieces of correspondence between and among counsel and officers of the court. The cases' particulars and progress from the Orleans Parish Criminal Court through the United States Supreme Court are represented most adequately in the various legal documents and the Proceedings in the Louisiana Supreme Court where the defendants appealed their conviction in the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court on charges of criminal mischief brought against them because of their attempted sit-in demonstration at McCrory's in New Orleans.

The plaintiff in Thomas P. Perkins, Jr. vs. New Orleans Athletic Club brought suit after he was refused service by the defendant, which had a reciprocal agreement with the Harvard Club of Boston where he was a member. Papers generated by the case and present in the collection comprise nearly a third of the total collection. The correspondence numbers 112 pieces and includes letters to and from the plaintiff, his parents, officers of the Harvard Club of Boston, members of the news media, court personnel, opposing counsel, helpful fellow lawyers, supportive NOAC members (including Robert F. Azar, ousted NOAC president who aided in the conduct of the case), other sympathizers, associate counsel Patricia Saik, sources of information, and NOAC representatives. Folders containing file memoranda and financial pieces illustrate aspects of the handling of the case. Clippings reveal newspaper coverage from the date the first suit was filed, July 16, 1975 (That suit was dropped after NOAC rescinded all reciprocal agreements.), down to the court's award of damages and costs to Perkins for NOAC's discrimination. The remainder of the collection (4 boxes) consists of notes, collected materials, largely NOAC reports, publications and law research, legal documents, depositions, proceedings, and exhibits.