Prince H. Preston, Jr. Papers, 1946-1961
49 boxes, 24 linear feet

Administrative Information

- Access Restrictions
- User Restrictions
- Processing Notes
- Copyright Information
- Preferred Citation

Biographical Note

Scope and Content

Home

Organization and Arrangement

Related Collections

- In Russell Library
- In other repositories

Series Descriptions

Audiovisual Materials

Access Points

Folder List

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access Restrictions: Case mail and academy files are closed.

User Restrictions: Library acts as “fair use” reproduction agent.

Processing Notes: This collection was originally housed in the Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library, where the papers were processed and organized. In 2001, alterations were made to the arrangement including the renaming of some series to provide a more clear description and the division and renaming of items at the folder level. Photographs, audiovisual materials, and artifacts were separated from the collection for their preservation. Inventories of these items have been prepared and are available to researchers.

Copyright Information: Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permission. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred Citation: Prince H. Preston, Jr. Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia.

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BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE:

Prince H. Preston was born on July 5, 1908 in Monroe, Georgia. He attended Statesboro public schools and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1930 with a LL.B. degree. After passing the bar, Preston practiced law in Statesboro. In 1935, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives for Bulloch County and was re-elected in 1937.

In September 1942, Preston volunteered for the U.S. Army and entered as a private. He had risen to the rank of Captain when he was honorably discharged on October 13, 1945. After leaving the military, Preston was elected Judge of City Court of Statesboro in 1946. He never took this position, however, due to his election to the U.S. Congress as First District Representative. He was subsequently re-elected for the next six terms but he lost his seat in 1960 to Elliot Hagan. Despite receiving a majority of the popular vote, Preston did not receive enough county-unit votes to win.

While he was a member of Congress, Preston served on the House Appropriations Committee and was named chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce and Related Agencies in 1955, passing the budget requests for the Panama Canal, Saint Lawrence Seaway, and others. As head of the Subcommittee, Preston was especially proud of the fact that he was able to reduce the President's budget requests for the 15 agencies under the Subcommittee on Commerce and Related Agencies by 750 million dollars over five years. He was selected by presidential appointment twice to serve as a congressional advisor to UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). He was interested in rivers and harbors and took an active role in the development of Savannah Harbor and the nine-mile channel connecting Savannah to Augusta. Preston worked to prohibit interstate shipment of slot machines, authoring the Johnson-Preston Law and also authored the Preston Venue Law which guarantees a citizen charged with violating Internal Revenue Laws the right to be tried before a jury of his peers rather than be forced to be tried in a distant court. He was also responsible for a bill that provided for the microfilming of government documents and made microfilm admissible in lieu of the original document as evidence in court. Preston was also, for one term from 1956 to 1958, Assistant Whip for the Democratic Majority.

Prince Preston died on February 2, 1961 in Savannah. He was survived by his wife, Myrtice Robinson Preston and their two daughters.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT:

The Prince Preston Papers consist of correspondence, press releases, printed materials, newsclippings, photographs, campaign memorabilia, sound recordings, and film from Preston's service as Representative from the First District of Georgia in the United States House. The years represented are 1946 to 1961, and the activities are political (local, state, and national). During his time in office, Preston was most proud of his work as chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce and Related Agencies in which he trimmed 750 million dollars from federal budgets over 5 years. While the files concerning legislative matters are chiefly from his last term in office (1959-1961), the campaign materials document Preston's complete political career in the House of Representatives. One film of interest that is available, however, is a previously classified film from the U.S. Energy Department, "Operation Ivy." Originally made for an exclusive audience of military and civilian officials with top-secret clearances, this film documents the November 1, 1952 testing of the Mike device -- the first thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb ever detonated -- on the island of Elugelab at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

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ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT

The Papers are divided into four series: I. Legislative (includes closed case mail and academy files), II. Political, III. Personal, and IV. Related Materials. Arrangement is chronological.

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RELATED COLLECTIONS IN THIS REPOSITORY:

Albert Sidney Camp Papers, 1892-1954
John W. Davis Papers, 1941, 1958-1974
Henderson L. Lanham Papers, 1946-1957
Stephen Pace Post Office Papers, 1937-1951
John L. Pilcher Papers, 1941-1976
Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection, 1903-1974
Hugh Peterson, Sr. Papers
G. Elliot Hagan Papers
E.L. Forrester Papers

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RELATED COLLECTIONS IN OTHER REPOSITORIES:

Not available at this time. Please contact Russell Library for more information.

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS:

I. Legislative, 1947-1961 [CASE MAIL AND ACADEMIES RESTRICTED]
31 boxes, 15.5 linear feet
The Legislative series consists of constituent correspondence and research materials for bills from the House of Representatives from 1947 until 1961. Subject files form the bulk of the series with correspondence and materials concerning legislative bills and topics as well as postal appointments.

A. Subject Files
The Subject Files are mainly correspondence that is arranged alphabetically by subject - generally, by the department or agency which the correspondence concerns, but in some cases also by the topic of legislation. For instance, materials concerning the expansion of Hunter Air Force Base may be found under folder titles "Hunter Air Force Base" or "Air Force" while a copy of the bill is located in folder, "Preston Bills." Most of the subject files date from Preston's last term in office, 1959-1961.

Included in the Subject Files are County Post Office files that concern postal appointments and routes in Preston's 1st District counties. These files are alphabetical by county and further subdivided by city. Unlike the rest of the subject files, the dates for the Post Office files span Preston's entire tenure in the House of Representatives.

B. Case Mail [RESTRICTED]
Files contain requests from constituents to their representative to intercede on their behalf with various government agencies, including: veterans affairs, social security, and the prison system.

C. Academy Files [RESTRICTED]
Files contain Academy applications from Armed Forces institutions and letters of recommendation from Preston.

II. Political, 1946-1960
13 boxes, 6.25 linear feet
This series documents Preston's campaign for the Georgia 1st District US Congressional seat in 1946 and subsequent campaigns for re-election in 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, and 1960. Included in this series are correspondence, county files, speeches, newspaper clippings, financial information, campaign materials, and election results.

A. 1946 Campaign
2.5 boxes, 1.175 linear feet
In 1946, Preston was elected Judge of the City Court of Statesboro. He never served as judge, running also for Congress in the time between his judicial victory and the date he was scheduled to take office. In a chaotic and very close election, Preston defeated incumbent 1st District U.S. Representative Hugh Peterson and Charles R. Cochran. At the close of the race, Peterson and Preston were tied in county unit votes, and the results in Bryan County gave Peterson the lead by only 3 votes. Preston demanded a recount in Bryan County, and the revised figures gave Preston a 6 vote majority - giving Preston Bryan county and the necessary county unit votes to win the election 24 to 22. This subseries contains key contacts from the 1st district, county files, correspondence, financial records, speeches and campaign materials. Arrangement is chronological.

B. 1948 Campaign
.5 boxes, .25 linear foot
Preston returned to Congress without opposition in 1948. This subseries contains one folder of campaign documents and correspondence.

C. 1950 Campaign
.5 boxes, .25 linear foot
Preston returned to Congress without opposition in 1950. This subseries contains campaign documents and correspondence as well as materials from the 1951 Democratic Executive Committee meeting.

D. 1952 Campaign
.5 boxes, .25 linear foot
Preston returned to Congress without opposition in 1952. While this subseries does not contain materials from Preston's campaign, it does contain documents and correspondence from the 1952 Democratic National Convention and Richard B. Russell's 1952 bid for the Democratic Nomination for president.

E. 1954 Campaign
.5 boxes, .25 linear foot
In 1954, Preston had no opposition in the Democratic primary and defeated Frank Downing of Savannah in the general election. Materials in this subseries include correspondence, financial records, and press files.

F. 1956 Campaign
2 boxes, 1 linear foot
In his 1956 bid for re-election, Preston defeated Spence M. Grayson and G. Elliot Hagan in the Democratic primary and Harry P. Anestos in the general election. Included in this subseries are press files, correspondence, county files, news clippings, speeches, and election results. There are also files from the 1956 Democratic National Convention and the 1955-1956 Executive Democratic Committee.

G. 1958 Campaign
2 boxes, 1 linear foot
Preston defeated G. Elliot Hagan in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election. Included in this subseries are correspondence, speeches, county files, press files, financial records, and election results.

H. 1960 Campaign
4 boxes, 2 linear feet
Preston lost his 1960 bid for re-election to Democrat G. Elliot Hagan - although he won the popular vote by 34,300 to 33,613, Preston lost the county unit vote 26 to 18. Included in this subseries are correspondence, county files, press files, speeches, financial records, and materials from the 1960-1961 Democratic Executive Committee.

III. Personal
5 boxes, 2.25 linear feet

A. Correspondence
These files include letters of thank, congratulations, and condolence. Although there are two different types of filing methods in this subseries - first a reverse chronological organization of correspondence by year, then an alphabetical filing - they contain the same type of correspondence and cover the same dates, 1948-1961.

B. Subject Files
These files contain more personal correspondence and materials that represent Preston's life outside of office and are organized alphabetically by subject. Included are records concerning Preston's World War II service and letter of condolence and tributes upon his death in February 1961.

IV. Related Materials
Related Materials are items that by physical form are not retained as part of the papers in the collection, but by content are related to the intellectual content of the papers. Any nontextual materials originally filed with papers were removed for preservation purposes and improved access. These materials include photographs, audio/visual materials, memorabilia and scrapbooks; physical form determines arrangement and storage.

A. Photographs
14 photographs
Photographs were removed from the collection manuscripts for preservation purposes. These photographs are valuable chiefly for their relation to correspondence and materials in the collection.

B. Artifacts
These materials include a teleprompter script from a televised campaign speech as well as a sample box of campaign advertising paraphernalia from an advertising agency.

C. Audiovisual Materials
6 - 16 mm film reels, 10 audiotapes
The audiovisual materials in the Prince H. Preston, Jr. Papers, 1946-1961 consist of six 16mm films created and/or received in the course of his duties as congressman as well as ten audiotapes of radio commercials for Preston's campaigns for Congress, including for his unsuccessful campaign for re-election in 1960. Many materials in this subseries are unidentified and will need further preservation treatment in order to ensure the information they contain will endure before they may be opened for research. One film of interest that is available, however, is a previously classified film from the U.S. Energy Department, "Operation Ivy." Originally made for an exclusive audience of military and civilian officials with top-secret clearances, this film documents the November 1, 1952 testing of the Mike device -- the first thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb ever detonated -- on the island of Elugelab at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Mike device was the first in a series of two detonations in the Enewetak Atoll that were collectively called Operation Ivy. The latter Ivy test (not included in this film) was a high yield fission weapon named King which was tested as a backup to ease any sense of national vulnerability had the Mike device unsuccessfully detonated.

D. Scrapbooks
2 Scrapbooks, 1956-1959
The scrapbooks consist of clippings from newspapers and magazines and document Preston's 1956 and 1958 campaigns through advertisements and election coverage as well as Preston's legislative activities during those years, including his efforts to keep Hunter Air Force Base open.

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ACCESS POINTS

United States. Veterans Administration.
United States. Federal Housing Administration.
United States. Congress. House.
Gambling --Law and legislation --United States.
Legislators --United States.
Labor unions --Law and legislation --United States.
Harbors --Georgia.
Rivers --Georgia.
Operation Ivy, 1952.
United States --Politics and government --1945-1989.
Congressional records.
Scrapbooks.
Speeches.

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FOLDER LIST

Not available at this time. Please contact Russell Library for more information.

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