(JOHN ADAMS), 1888-1986. John A. Sibley Papers, Circa 1920-1989
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SIBLEY, JOHN A. (JOHN ADAMS), 1888-1986. John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-6887 [email protected] Collection Stored Off-Site All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval. Descriptive Summary Creator: Sibley, John A. (John Adams), 1888-1986. Title: John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Call Number: Manuscript Collection No. 437 Extent: 220.625 linear ft. (441 boxes), 7 bound volumes (BV), 3 oversized bound volumes (OBV), and AV Masters: 1 linear foot (1 box) Abstract: Papers of Atlanta attorney and business leader John A. Sibley consisting of personal and business correspondence relating to his law practice, his employment at Coca-Cola Company and Trust Company of Georgia, and his association with various organizations. Language: Materials entirely in English. Administrative Information Restrictions on Access Series 5: Use copies have not been made for the audiovisual materials at this time. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access audiovisual material in this collection. Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction. Source Gift, 1987, with subsequent additions. Emory Libraries provides copies of its finding aids for use only in research and private study. Copies supplied may not be copied for others or otherwise distributed without prior consent of the holding repository. John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Manuscript Collection No. 437 Citation [after identification of item(s)], John A. Sibley papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University. Processing Note Last revision: February 2012 This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at [email protected]. Collection Description Biographical Note John Adams Sibley (1888-1986), an Atlanta attorney, bank and civic leader, was born January 4, 1888 on a farm in Baldwin County near Milledgeville, Georgia. Sibley began his legal career in 1911 when he and his brother, Edwin, started the firm of Sibley and Sibley in Milledgeville after John graduated from the University of Georgia. Seven years later, Sibley moved to Atlanta to join one of the city's leading law firms, King and Spalding. In 1920 Sibley litigated one of his most famous cases, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Bottling Company chose King and Spalding and Sibley to represent them in a lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company. The case centered on whether the contact made between the two companies in 1899 could be revoke by The Coca-Cola Company or if the contract was perpetual and permanent. Sibley won the suit. Recognizing Sibley's talent, Robert W. Woodruff later hired Sibley to be the Associate General Counsel of The Coca-Cola Company and, in 1935, Sibley rose to be General Counsel of The Coca-Cola Company. Sibley returned to private practice with King and Spalding in 1942. He resigned his position in 1946 to become the chairman of the board of trustees of a powerful Atlanta bank, Trust Company of Georgia. He guided the bank through its tremendous post-World War II growth. He retired from the board of trustees in 1959 but remained as chairman of the company's executive committee until 1962. After his retirement from Trust Company of Georgia, Sibley agreed to serve as chairman of the (Georgia) General Assembly Committee on Schools. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, the state legislature had passed a number of laws designed to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling and keep the state's school segregated, including an amendment to the state's constitution that forced the state to end state funding for any school that desegregated. The legislation in effect forced the state to choose between complying with the federal courts or shutting down the state's public school system. The "Sibley commission," as the nineteen-member committee was known popularly, held ten town hall meetings across the state. At the meetings, Sibley reduced the emotionally charged issue of school desegregation to a single question: "Are you willing to have integration in public schools or are you willing to have integration and abolish public schools and support the schools by private means?" Although a majority of speakers at the hearings opposed integration, the committee recommended that the legislature adopt the "local option" plan where local 2 John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Manuscript Collection No. 437 school boards would decide whether to desegregate or not. The state legislature adopted the commission's recommendations in January 1961. John A. Sibley married Nettie Whitaker Cone on November 25, 1914. They had four children: John Adams Sibley, Jr., James Malcolm Sibley, Jeanette Sibley (Yow), and Martha Erwin Sibley (George). Three years after Nettie's death in 1934, Sibley married Barbara Sanford Thayer. Their children were Barbara Thayer Sibley, Horace Holden Sibley, John Adams Sibley, III, and Stephen Thayer Sibley. John A. Sibley died on October 26, 1986 in Atlanta. Scope and Content Note The collection consists of the papers of John A. Sibley from 1910-1991. His papers include subject files, personal files, photographs, printed material, and audiovisual materials. The collection documents parts of Sibley's professional career, his personal life, and his involvement with civic and philanthropic organizations and educational institutions. The collection does not contain much material from his time at King and Spalding or his time as General Counsel of The Coca-Cola Company. The subject files comprise the largest part of the collection. They contain correspondence, reports and unpublished documents about people, businesses, organizations, and subjects important to John A. Sibley, including files about Agnes Scott College, Berry Schools, The Coca-Cola Company, the Georgia General Assembly Commission on Schools, the Henrietta Egelston Hospital for Children, the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, Trust Company of Georgia, and the West Point Manufacturing Company. The personal files include Sibley's personal papers, his speech files, honors and awards he received, and extensive correspondence with family members. The photographs series consists of photographs from 1910-1985 and five disassembled photo albums. It includes photographs of John A. Sibley, Sibley with his friends and associates, and family members. The photographs range from professional portraits to candid shots. The printed material consists mostly of articles about John A. Sibley and the Georgia General Assembly Committee on Schools. The audiovisual materials consist of recordings by or about John A. Sibley, including a commencement address Sibley delivered at Emory as well as coverage of Sibley receiving the Shining Light Award. Arrangement Note Organized into seven series: (1) Subject files, (2) Personal papers, (3) Speech files, (4) Family papers, (5) Awards and honors, (6) Photographs, and (7) Audio-visual material. 3 John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Manuscript Collection No. 437 Description of Series Series 1: Subject files,1912-1989 Series 2: Personal files,1910-1986 Subseries 2.1: Personal papers,1910-1986 Subseries 2.2: Speech files,1927-1984 Subseries 2.3: Honors and awards, 1911-1986 Subseries 2.4: Family papers,1914-1991 Series 3: Photographs, 1910-1985 Series 4: Printed material, 1911-1986 Series 5: Audiovisual materials, 1962-1976 4 John A. Sibley papers, circa 1920-1989 Manuscript Collection No. 437 Series 1 Subject files,1912-1989 Boxes 1-364; BV1-3; OBV1-2 Scope and Content Note The series consists of files about people, businesses, organizations, and subjects important to John A. Sibley from 1912-1989. These files document Sibley's long involvement with Trust Company of Georgia and the West Point Manufacturing Company. In addition, there are materials about businesses and philanthropies that Sibley had connections to, including The Coca-Cola Company, Equitable Life Assurance Society, the Ida Cason Callway Foundation, and the John Bulow Campbell Foundation. Of particular interest are the items related to the Georgia General Assembly Committee on Schools. It includes files of the Sibley Commission's correspondence, printed material, reports, resolutions and tabulations of hearings from each congressional district. The subject files also contain materials about the numerous organizations and institutions Sibley supported, including Agnes Scott College, Berry Schools, the Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children, Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law, and the University of Georgia. Arrangement Note Arranged in alphabetical order. Box Folder Content 1 1 A, 1936-1940 1 2 A, 1941-1944 1 3 A, 1945-1949 1 4 A, 1950-1951 1 5 A, 1952 1 6 A, 1953 1 7 A, 1954 2 1 A, 1955 2 2 A, 1956-1957 2 3 A, 1960-1961 2 4 A, 1962-1966 2 5 A, 1969-1985 2 6 A. G. Rhodes Home, Inc.,