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 Charles Walter Tillett Papers #4438, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from the children of Charles W. Tillett (Sara Tillett Thomas, Gladys Tillett Coddington, and Charles W. Tillett III), in 1984 and 1985, with an addition from Sara Tillett Thomas in 2001 (Acc. 98860).

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.

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.

• American Bar Association.
• Charlotte (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948.
• Democratic Party (N.C.).
• Democratic Party (U.S.).
• Education, Higher--North Carolina--20th century.
• Ehringhaus, John Christoph Blucher, 1882-1949.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Graham, Edward Kidder, 1876-1918.
• Graham, Frank Porter, 1886- .
• International agencies.
• International law.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Mecklenburg County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Tillett family.
• Tillett, Charles Walter, 1888-1952.
• Tillett, Gladys Avery, 1891-1984.
• United Nations--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Trustees.

• Gladys Avery Tillett Papers (#4305)
• Alphonso Calhoun Avery Papers (#3456)
• Josephus Daniels Papers (#203)
• Edward Kidder Graham Papers (#282)
• Frank Porter Graham Papers (#1819)

Charles Walter Tillett (1888-1952) was born in Mangum, N.C., 6 February 1888, the son of Charles Walter and Carrie Patterson Tillett. He was educated at the Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn.; earned an A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1909; and studied law at the University of North Carolina in 1909 and 1910. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Order of the Golden Fleece, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Tillett, like his father, chose to enter the legal profession and was admitted to the Bar in 1910. After a short period as a company commander during World War I (he never saw combat), he practiced law in Charlotte, N.C., and, at the time of his death, was senior partner in the law firm of Tillett, Campbell, Craighill, and Randleman. Tillett became prominent in his profession, serving as chair of the American Bar Association's Section on International and Comparative Law (two terms), president of the North Carolina Bar Association (1935-1936), and member of the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners (1933-1943), which he helped to establish.

A major proponent of the United Nations and international law, Tillett wrote and spoke frequently on the United Nations and served as an unofficial correspondent for the Charlotte News at the San Francisco Conference in 1945. His advocacy of international law led him to testify before a United States Senate subcommittee in 1952, urging acceptance by the United States of compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

Tillett served on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina from 1932 to 1937. He also served as president of the General Alumni Association and of the Horace Williams Philosophical Society.

Tillett engaged in civic work as well, serving on the Charlotte School Board from 1919 to 1923 and as attorney for the city modernists during the evolution controversy in North Carolina in the 1920s. Tillett was active in the Democratic Party, serving as a delegate to the 1944 Democratic National Convention. Charles Tillett's wife, Gladys Avery Tillett (1891-1984), whom he married in 1917, was even more active in the Party, and the two collaborated in their speech writing and probably on other efforts as well.

Tillett, who had suffered from clinical depression, committed suicide by plunging to his death from his Charlotte office building on 23 December 1952.

The collection includes correspondence, speeches, writings, and research materials of Charles Walter Tillett. Over half of the materials are documents Tillett used in researching his speeches and articles. Many items relate to the United Nations and international law. Most of Tillett's speeches and articles deal with international concerns, although some pertain to local Charlotte, N.C., and Mecklenburg County, N.C., state, and national Democratic Party politics; legal matters; and civic organizations. Correspondence, which dates from 1907 to 1952, largely concerns legal matters; fund-raising campaigns for various organizations; Tillett's work for the American Bar Association's section on International and Comparative Law; and his involvement in various activities at the University of North Carolina, including his service on the Board of Trustees. There are also materials relating to various aspects of his legal career and a few relating to his personal life. Among Tillett's correspondents were Josephus Daniels; John C. B. Ehringhaus; Edward Kidder Graham; Frank Porter Graham; and Tillett's wife, Gladys Avery Tillett.

Also included are biographical materials on Tillett and correspondence and legal papers of Tillett's parents, Charles W. Tillet (1857-1936) and Carrie P. Tillett.

Materials in the Addition of February 2001 have been arranged according to the organization scheme of the original deposit. Please see the Alphonso Calhoun Avery Papers (#3456) for legal materials and correspondence regarding Tillett's legal work for the estate of William Holland Thomas, Gladys Avery Tillett's grandfather.

Oversize volumes (SV-4438/1-2)