Books and Manuscripts

Archive of Clarence E. Bright, longtime Manager of the Pearson Printing Office, the sole printer of Supreme Court Decisions from 1891-1946

Locations vary, ca. 1913-75. Archive of longtime Manager of the Pearson Printing Office, Clarence E. Bright, led by approximately 40 letters, both typed and in manuscript, from Supreme Court Justices, such as William H. Taft (3), Charles E. Hughes, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (9), Felix Frankfurter (4), Owen Roberts, Pierce Butler, Harlan Stone, Willis Van Devanter, Harold Burton, Wiley Rutledge (2), William O. Douglas, Fred Vinson, and more. Contents of letters vary, largely of a personal nature. Also included is a printed brochure for the Supreme Court ("The Supreme Court of the United States"), signed by all nine justices of the Hughes Court (ca. 1941); a presentation copy of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s Speeches, with a mounted autograph letter from the author dated 1913; and Bright's presentation copy of the Court's minutes, from December 23, 1946, officially recognizing his long tenure of service and offering their gratitude. The archive is rounded out by approximately 30 newspaper clippings, magazines, and other ephemera.

Clarence E. Bright (1873-1949) was manager of the Pearson Printing Office, a small firm based in Washington, D.C., contracted as the sole confidential printer of Supreme Court decisions. Throughout the 18th, 19th, and, most of the 20th century, the Court's proceedings and decisions were shrouded in secrecy, to keep its Justices impartial, and out of the public eye. Bright, as manager of the printing office, was the only person outside of the Court with advanced knowledge of their rulings.

Bright took his responsibility of confidentiality very seriously, telling a newspaper reporter in 1935 "I'm sorry, I just can't tell you anything about myself except that I'm a printer. I've been a printer all my life. My work is mostly mechanical but it has an ethical side. In these days, that's rare, but I intend to keep on being self-effacing..." (Christian Science Monitor, February 5, 1935).

During his long tenure, Clarence Bright became acquainted with many prominent Justices, and when it came time for him to retire, in 1946, he was met with the utmost praise. In an extract from the Court's minutes of December 23, 1946, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson wrote, "For more than a half-century Mr. Bright has served the Court with complete fidelity, bringing to his important and confidential work the advantages of unique skill and ability...What is equally remarkable, not once in his long service was there suggestion that by carelessness or otherwise the large confidence imposed in him had not been strictly observed. His name belongs in the roll of those who have given themselves through long years to the service of the Court with absolute devotion to its interest..."

A fine collection of letters and other ephemera from one of the unsung heroes of the United States Supreme Court.