Introduction
Scope and Contents Note
Arrangement
Folder List
 

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Introduction

The Reginald Heber Smith Community Fellows Program (RHS) was established in 1967 in order to attract talented young lawyers to the field of poverty law.  Initially sponsored by the Legal Services Program within the Office of Economic Opportunity and administered by the University of Pennsylvania, the program would recruit recent law school graduates, train them in various aspects of poverty law, and place them (for one or two years) in regional legal services projects throughout the country.  The program was named for Reginald Heber Smith, author of Justice and the Poor (1919), a groundbreaking work that sparked the legal aid movement in the United States; and the Program's Fellows were accordingly called Reggies.  The fellows were mostly recent graduates of top law schools.  The competitive nature of the Program's selection process and the Program's association with the University of Pennsylvania and later Howard University made being a Reggie quite prestigious.  Being young, enthusiastic, and committed to their cause, the Reggies made an immediate impact upon the regional and local projects where they were placed.

After two years, in 1969, the Program was moved from the University of Pennsylvania to Howard University where greater emphasis was placed on attracting minority Fellows.  When OEO was dismantled in the mid-1970's, the Reggie Program moved to the Legal Services Corporation.  From 1967 to 1985, when the program ended,  there were approximately 2,000 Reggies.  Many went on to have careers in legal services, become educators, judges, and prominent lawyers.  This collection was created in preparation for the Thirtieth Anniversary Reunion of Reggies, sponsored by the National Equal Justice Library at the Washington College of Law of American University, November 13 & 14, 1998.
 

Scope and Contents Note

The collection is divided into five series: 1) background information on the Reginald Heber Smith Community Fellows Program, 1967-1985; 2) original rosters and current information of Reggies by class year; 3) current information about former Reggies, arranged alphabetically; 4) planning materials related to the Thirtieth Anniversary Reunion of Reggies; and 5) Reunion program materials and documentation (includes audio-visual materials, stored separately).

Provenance: National Equal Justice Library

Size: Collection is contained in six archival quality Hollinger boxes, not including audio-visual materials

Linear Feet:

Location: National Equal Justice Library

Subjects: Reginald Heber Smith Fellows, 1998 Reunion of Reggies
 

Arrangement

Box 1. Background information on the Reggie Program
Box 2. Class Rosters and current information: List of all rosters and rosters for classes 1967-69
Box 3. Class Rosters and current information for classes 1970-85
Box 4. Individual former Reggies, A-M
Box 5. Individual former Reggies, N-Z
Box 6. Reunion planning materials and Reunion program materials and documentation
Audio visual materials are shelved in the office of the NEJL Curator

Folder List

(Box 1 begin)

Legal Services Projects and Directors - 3/69

Askew Background paper on RHS Program

Robertson, James Evaluation of RHS Program - 5/26/78

From David Fivaloff Notebook of Correspondence,  re. Reggies (three folders)

RHS Program move to Howard University

Profile of Former and Current Fellows Copied from Annual Report

Material from Barry Fisher on Reggie Program

California Reggies Newsletter from Barry Fisher

Reggie Alumni Reunion 1984

From Where are they now columns from Reggie Newsletter (Robert Brown Gift)

Published Materials about Reggies Including Newsletters

(Box 1 end)

(Box 2 begin)

List of Reggie Rosters

Group I Reggies 1967/1968 (still being funded by OEO) - 1/5/70

Reggies Class of 1967 Roster

Class of 1967 Roster

Class of 1967 Mailings

Class of 1967 Letter to Follow Up

1967 Revised Address List (access version)

Class of 1967 Final Address List

Class of 1967 Picture ID

Class of 1968 Roster

Group II Reggies, 1968/1969 as of 2/15/70

Class of 1968 Mailings

Class of 1968 , Response from class members

Class of 1968 Final Address List

Group III Reggies 1969/1970

Class of 1969 Roster, biographical

Reggie Class of 1969 Assignment and Address Roster

Class of 1969, Mailing

Class of 1969 Address List, first version

Class of 1969 Address List, most up-to-date

Class of 1969, Response from Class members

Class of 1969 Other Correspondence

Class of 1969 Articles and other Published information (two folders)

(Box 2 end)

(Box 3 begin)

Class of 1970 Partial Roster - Western States

Class of 1970 Partial Address List based on Partial Roster

Class of 1970 Mailing

Class of 1970 Response from Members

Class of 1971

Reggies Class of 1971 Response from Members

Reggies Class of 1972 Class Roster

Reggies Class of 1972 Partial Address List

Class of 1972

Reggies Class of 1973 Roster

1973 Current

Class of 1973 Responses

Reggies Class of 1974 Class Roster

Reggies Class of 1974 Responses from Members

Reggies Class of 1975 Responses from Class Members

Reggies Class of 1976 Responses from Class Members

Class of 1979 Roster

Class of 1979 Correspondence

Reggies Class of 1980 Roster

Class of 1980

Reggies Class of 1981 Rosters

Class of 1981 Mailing

Class of 1981 Second Mailing using up-to-date Roster

Class of 1981 First Address List

Class of 1981 materials Donated by Robert Brown

Brown (RHSmith Community Lawyer Fellowship) Correspondence

Reggies Class of 1982 Class Roster

Reggies Class of 1982 Responses From Members

Reggies Class of 1984/85 Class Rosters

Reggies Class of 1984 Responses from Class Members

Reggies Class of 1985 Responses from Class Members

(Box 3 end)

(Box 4 )

Current information on individual former Reggies, A-M

(Box 5)

Current information on individual former Reggies, N-Z
 
(Box 6 begin)

Reunion planning materials / Reggie Database

Reggies from Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia

Reggies from Puerto Rico, listed with addresses

Responses, either multiple or unknown class years

Reggie Reunion Committee Members

Reunion Correspondence (three folders)

Reunion Speakers

Reunion Invitation

Reunion Attendees

Reunion Exhibit Materials

Reunion Program / Reunion Panel Members

RHS Reports

Misc. Notes

Reunion Packet

National Association of Public Interest Law Packet

Form to Request Rosters

Roster Requests

Reggies, names previously unknown

(Box 6 end)
 
Audio Visual Materials (stored in the office of the NEJL Curator)
 
Two VHS video cassettes, numbered 1 & 2 - dated 11/14/98.  Videos of Reggie Reunion Panels, except Panel One.

Five audio cassette tapes: 1) Panel One, 2) Class of 1967 and Class of 1968 group oral history, 3 & 4) Class of 1969 group oral history, 5) Multiple Classes from the 1970's group oral history.