Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Joseph Button Papers #4664-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Doug Mattox of Raleigh, N.C., in June 1993 (Acc. 93087).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, August 1993

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African Americans--Virginia--Richmond--History--20th century.
• Button, Joseph.
• Byrd, Harry Flood, 1887-1966.
• Democratic Party (U.S.)--History--20th century.
• Democratic Party (Va.)--History--20th century.
• Fraternal organizations--Virginia--History--20th century.
• Virginia Military Institute. Board of Visitors.
• Virginia--Officials and employees.
• Virginia--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Virginia. Commissioner of Insurance.

Joseph Button was Virginia Commisioner of Insurance, 1925-1929. He also served on the Virginia Military Institute's Board of Visitors and was a member of the Noble Order of the Blue Goose and of the Shriners. He became president of Union Life Insurance Company, Richmond, Va., in 1929.

Chiefly correspondence, 1897 and 1924-1934, relating to Joseph Button's position as Virginia Commissioner of Insurance, activities in national and state Democratic Party politics, service on V.M.I.'s Board of Visitors, community service, and memberships in fraternal organizations. Letters about insurance matters have slight reference to Button's official activities as Commissioner of Insurance. Many of these letters are requests from associates for help in getting jobs with insurance companies for their sons or other relatives, while others relate to sales of insurance company stock and other financial deals. Political letters are mostly acknowledgements of financial and other support for Democratic candidates, including one in 1925 from Governor-elect Harry F. Byrd. Button's community service is documented in a letter, dated 5 July 1927, in which he was asked to serve on the White Advisory Committee for the Richmond Colored Community Hospital Campaign.