Kansas Bar Association Records, 1883-1989

(Bulk 1952-1989)

Manuscript Collection No. 740

• Introduction
• Biography
• Scope and Content
• Contents List
• Bibliography
• Index Terms
• Additional Information for Researchers

Introduction

Abstract

These records primarily document the operation of a state bar association through correspondence, committee records, minutes of meetings, membership files, and financial records; discuss important legal issues; and contain correspondence with other bar associations. Unfortunately, the chronological continuity is scattered. This collection contains few records prior to 1952.

Dates

1883-1989 (bulk 1952-1989).

Quantity

49 ft.

Creator

Kansas Bar Association.

Title

Kansas Bar Association records

Identification

Ms. collection no. 740.

Range 8, sections 11-13.

Repository

Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka).

Biography

The Kansas Bar Association (KBA) began as a descendant organization of the Judicial Administration of the State of Kansas (JASK). The JASK passed a resolution in January of 1882 to the effect that the JASK would “invite the leading members of the bar of the State of Kansas to meet with the Association at its next annual meeting in January of 1883” for the purpose of forming a bar association. There were only five lawyers attending the formative meeting of the Bar Association of the State of Kansas, as it was first named. All of those attending were judges from the State Supreme Court or various district courts. The formation of this organization took place at a time when city bar associations were being formed all across the country, so pressure to establish a state bar association in Kansas started as a grass-roots movement.

The purpose and intent of the KBA has changed over the years, depending on the nature of the legal climate of the time. The first issue that the KBA addressed concerned the State Supreme Court’s overburdened docket. The result came in the form of an increase in membership of the Supreme Court from three to seven; a result, in part, from the KBA’s nearly two decades of lobbying for an amendment to the state constitution. Another area of KBA interest was in expediting the appeals process. The KBA proposed a number of measures to streamline the Kansas legal system, measures which were adopted slowly, and over a long period of time.

In the nineteenth century, all that was required of someone desiring admittance to the bar was to “read the law” under the direction of a practicing lawyer for a period of a few months, then take a brief and unchallenging oral examination in front of a panel of admitted lawyers. Since Kansas’ earliest days of statehood, all that was required for bar admittance, was that the candidate had to have “requisite learning and good moral character.” Such lax requirements allowed for many under qualified candidates to gain bar admittance. Ultimately, lawyers who later became judges were so uninformed about the law that decisions from different judges resulted in a common-law legal code that was terribly inconsistent and uncoordinated.

By 1897, the KBA began advocating tighter and stricter requirements for bar admittance. It advocated that candidates should be required to study law for at least three years in either a law office, or the Law Department of Kansas University. It further recommended that bar exams be held biennially, under the direction of the Supreme Court, and be held publicly in the Supreme Court Chambers. These recommendations became law in 1903, with modifications.

Soon after the passage of that bill into law, the Supreme Court established a board whose purpose was to devise and administer the bar exam for those desiring admittance. The first written exam was conducted in 1904. This was the first time a truly rigorous test was administered, in order to ensure that only well-qualified candidates would be admitted to the bar. Even so, the requirements kept escalating as the years went by. In 1936, when the examining board required that bar exam candidates to first complete three years of college prior to examination. Kansas was a forerunner in establishing this requirement. At that time, no other State in the Union made such requirements of aspiring lawyers. By 1942, candidates were expected to have earned an undergraduate degree as well as an LL .B. or J. D. degree. Law office study, a mainstay of legal education for many years, was completely abolished in 1968.

An official publication of the KBA, the Kansas Law Journal, was published between 1885 and 1888. The Journal, published quarterly, featured the Kansas Supreme Court docket and decisions, selected decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and district courts’ opinions relevant to Kansas lawyers. The Kansas Law Journal was one of the voices and the main media used by the KBA to advocate the expansion of the Kansas Supreme Court in the late nineteenth century.

Conscious of its reputation with the public, the KBA established a committee in 1907 to examine the possibility of creating a code of ethics. At the 1909 annual meeting, the Code of Ethics Committee advised the KBA to adopt the same code as the American Bar Association. The following year, a five-member committee, established for the purpose of monitoring ethics within the committee, was added to the list of permanent standing committees.

The Public Relations Committee was established in 1949. This committee has delved into a wide array of activities, including publicizing Law Day and coordinating activities for that occasion, initiating school programs, producing radio and television programs and filmstrips, operating speakers’ bureaus, and writing articles for newspapers and magazines, to name a few. T. C. Anderson became the public relations secretary on a full time basis in 1970. He also worked with Continuing Legal Education. After resigning in 1977, he was succeeded by Marcia Poell.

Not until 1951 did the KBA have an address or any sort of a permanent location. John W. Shuart filled the role of executive secretary and secured office space in the Garlinghouse Building on South Quincy Street in Topeka. The KBA used that location as its headquarters until the need for more space mandated a move to a new location, 1334 Topeka Avenue, in 1960. Eventually, the KBA found it necessary to move into a newer facility in the late 1970s. This time, they made arrangements to have a building constructed to their specifications. Construction was completed in October of 1981. The dedication ceremony took place on October 14 of that year.

(Source: Richmond, Robert. Requisite Learning and Good Moral Character: A History of the Kansas Bench and Bar. Topeka, Kansas: Kansas Bar Association, 1982. pp 1-25.)

Scope and Content

This collection is organized into nine series, reflecting the organization, structure, activities, values and priorities of the Kansas Bar Association.

Unfortunately, the chronological continuity of the KBA’s records are less than complete. From the years 1883 to 1941, there are only four items. This collection begins, for all intents and purposes, in 1952. A Complete Roll of the Bar Association of the State of Kansas, 1883 - 1901, and Correspondence of the Executive Secretary, 1890, were actually donated to the Kansas State Historical Society long before the 1989 accession of most of the KBA records. The exact dates of the earliest donations can no longer be determined. It was not until 1989 that the KBA began systematically to make regular donations of their records to the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) as the official repository of its records. Items donated before 1989 are marked with an asterisk (*).

Periodically, the KBA sends accretions of records to the KSHS.

This collection contains operational records of a state bar association. Most of the records are such things as business correspondence, contracts made by the editor of the KBA Journal, membership information files, brochures for Practicing Law Institutes and / or Continuing Legal Education seminars, information concerning a myriad of different legal topics, the working files from the various officers of the KBA, financial records and bank statements, minutes and notes from the annual and midyear meetings, correspondence with other bar associations (county, or city bar associations, or bar associations of other States), and records concerning KBA vacation packages.

The KBA deals with internal matters - e.g. the governing of the KBA itself, its members and the KBA staff - as well as external matters like the Kansas legislative and judicial environment, bar associations in other States, public relations, social issues, and the process and standards by which lawyers are admitted to the bar. Because many lawyers are self-employed with their own private practices, many lawyers are concerned with such things as providing themselves and their employees with insurance and health care benefits. Accordingly, many of the files in this collection deal with these issues.

The correspondence in Series 1 pertains to subscriptions, requests for reprints, advertising rates, and invoices for printing expenses. The 1989 correspondence is filled with KBA members’ announcements concerning the establishment of new law firms, and partnerships, similar to the papers found in Series 6, Membership - Address Changes and Announcements.

The KBA has established a long list of committees to address various issues that affect lawyers. The contents of the files in Series 2 reveal the nature of the legal establishment for the years included in the records and indicate what legal issues were important at the time. Also, this collection shows how this and other similar organizations were operated. In terms of volume, the greatest part of this series concerns such issues as public relations and ethics, a testament to the concern of the KBA about its reputation and image with the public.

Series 3 contains files on Continuing Legal Education and Practicing Law Institutes. The material typically found in these files are mainly brochures advertising the various institutes, educational seminars, offered to lawyers, including registration forms. Similar to the previous series on committees, the list of institutes indicates what issues were important to lawyers at the time, and the list is exhaustive. Arrangement is alphabetical by institute title. In order to maintain their good standing as bar members, lawyers are required to earn points, in part, by attending institutes.

Series 4: The Kansas Bar Association is governed by an Executive Council, and the leading member of the Council is the executive secretary. The correspondence of the Executive Council and the executive secretary, plus the minutes of meetings, financial statements, news releases and officers’ files provide a great deal of evidential documentation of the Kansas Bar Association.

Series 5 contains the agendas and the minutes of meetings, annual and midyear, of the KBA. This is another good source of documentary information concerning the Association, its policies, decisions and activities. Committees also submitted their reports at annual and midyear meetings.

The single most voluminous series in the collection contains records of KBA members. Records in this series date back to the KBA’s earliest days, with the Complete Roll of the Bar Association of the State of Kansas, 1883-1901. This item was not a part of the 1989 accession, as it has been property of the Kansas State Historical Society for many years. Its date of accession is no longer known.

The Address Changes & Announcements, the first sub series within the Membership series, contains ornately printed cards announcing the formation of a new law practice or the addition of new partners with existing firms.

In terms of significance of information, the Members’ Information Files provide the greatest quantity of data. Members with at least two newspaper articles, a photograph, an historical data sheet, or a biographical questionnaire will have their materials in separate files. Members with less than that, usually only a single newspaper clipping, will have their materials filed in a folder labeled with the first letter of their last name. For example, Robert P. Ebersole only had one newspaper article in the KBA records, which is located in the file labeled “E.” He does not have a file of his own, as does Richard Eads, whose file contains a data sheet and a newspaper clipping.

Not surprisingly, the directors of the KBA kept in contact with other bar associations: bars at the city and county level within the State of Kansas, with other state bar associations and with the American Bar Association. Series 7 contains these correspondence files.

The subject files, found in Series 8, bear a similarity to the Continuing Legal Education / Practicing Law Institutes files, in that they contain a wide range of files concerning issues important to lawyers. The files range alphabetically from Administrative Law to Workman’s Compensation.

The last series, no. 9, contains files about the work / vacations that the KBA provided to its members. Like the Continuing Legal Education / Practicing Law Institutes files, the vacation packages that the KBA offered included not only relaxing “getaways” but also educational seminars for those who attended. These files contain all of the records concerning the necessary arrangements for these trips.

Folders in the box contents list are listed individually. In many cases, lengthy spans of files (i.e. “Economics of the Bar Survey, 1964-1978) made individual folder listing redundant, and would have made this guide much longer than necessary.

Contents List

Series Description

Box List

Bibliography

Richmond, Robert. Requisite Learning and Good Moral Character: A History of the Kansas Bench and Bar. Topeka, Kansas: Kansas Bar Association, 1982. pp 1-25.

Index Terms

Access Points

The terms listed below may include names, places, subjects, occupations, titles, and other words describing this collection. These terms are used in the ATLAS catalog used by the Kansas State Historical Society and affiliated libraries in Topeka, lib.wuacc.edu, as well as libraries and archives subscribing to OCLC, an international library / archives database. Searches on these words should produce a description of this collection as well as other books and collections that may be of interest.

Corporate names

• Bar Association of the State of Kansas (co-author and subject)
• Kansas Bar Association.

Geographic names

• Kansas
• Topeka (Kan.)

Occupations

• Lawyers-Kansas.
• Judges-Kansas.

Subjects

• Bar associations-Kansas-Archives.

Additional Information for Researchers

Acquisition information

Gift: Kansas Bar Association, various dates.

Restrictions on access

None.

Copyright/ publication rights

Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). The user is cautioned that the publication of the contents of this microfilm may be construed as constituting a violation of literary property rights. These rights derive from the principle of common law, affirmed in the copyright law of 1976 as amended, that the writer of an unpublished letter or other manuscript has the sole right to publish the contents thereof unless he or she affirmatively parts with that right; the right descends to his or her legal heirs regardless of the ownership of the physical manuscript itself. It is the responsibility of a user or his or her publisher to secure the permission of the owner of literary property rights in unpublished writing.

Preferred citation

[identification of individual item, series or sub series], Kansas Bar Association records, 1883 - 1989 (bulk 1952 - 1989), ms. collection 740, Library and Archives Division, Kansas State Historical Society.

Accruals

The Kansas State Historical Society receives accretions from the Kansas Bar Association periodically.

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