1840 - 1999
(bulk dates 1880 - 1950)
Manuscript Collection Number: 432
Accessioned: Gift of Pearson Family,
2000 - 2001.
Extent: 6.3 linear ft. and 2 oversize
boxes.
Content: Photographs, correspondence,
letters, ephemera, postcards, greeting cards, clippings, books, stationery,
printed materials, certificates, diplomas, journals, passport, report cards.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: October - December
2001, by Karen E. Ryder
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
George Burton Pearson, Jr., (1905-1999), was a Delaware lawyer, judge, and banker. He was educated at the Wilmington Friends School, (1918-1923), Princeton, (1924-1927), and the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned an LL.B in 1931. Judge Victor Woolley chose Burton Pearson as his first law clerk. From 1931 until 1939, Pearson worked in the Wilmington law firm of Hugh M. Morris. Pearson left private legal practice in 1939 to serve as Delaware’s first statutory Vice Chancellor. In 1946, Governor Walter W. Bacon appointed Burton Pearson Associate Judge of the Delaware Supreme Court, in which capacity he served until 1949, when he resigned to take a position at Wilmington Trust Company. He remained with Wilmington Trust Company as a Senior Vice President, Director, and Chairman of the Trust Committee until he retired.
Burton Pearson was elected President of the Delaware State Bar Association in 1950, serving until 1952. In 1951, he joined the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware. He was a founding member and president of the Unidel Foundation, Inc., which supports many academic departments at the University by providing research funds for students. In 1988, the University awarded Judge Pearson an honorary doctorate.
Burton Pearson was born in Middletown, Delaware, where he lived with his father, G. Burton Pearson, Sr., M.D., (1869-195?), and his mother, Estelle Cochran Pearson, (1871-1947). Burton Pearson’s maternal great-grandfather was Robert Thomas Cochran, brother of John P. Cochran, who was governor of Delaware from 1875-1879. An only child, Burton Pearson apparently had strong and supportive extended family relationships, especially with his aunt, Oka Cochran Warren. He attended Middletown Public Schools until 1918, when his father relocated his medical practice to 94 East Main Street, Newark, Delaware. Burton Pearson continued to live with his parents in Newark until he married Isabella Turner in 1941. Burton and Isabella Pearson raised their two children near Wilmington, Delaware. Burton Pearson married Edith du Pont late in life, after his first wife died in 1962.
Throughout his working life, Pearson was active in the Delaware Bar Association. In 1993, Pearson contributed his oral history for the Bar History Project on the History of the Delaware Supreme Court. His hobbies ranged from history and genealogy to semantics to winetasting. Pearson served on the executive committees of the Wilmington Institute Free Library, the Tower Hill School, the Historical Society of Delaware, and the Memorial Hospital of Wilmington. He was a member of the Alliance Française of Wilmington, the Wilmington Country Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of Colonial Wars. He had a home in Montchanin, Delaware, and in the exclusive Mill Reef Club in Antigua, W.I. George Burton Pearson, Jr. died in December, 1999.
Princeton Alumni Weekly (Online Archives), Volume 1999-00, Number 17, July 5, 2000, Memorials. http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/
Winslow, Helen L., ed. The Delaware Bar in the Twentieth Century. The Delaware State Bar Association, 1994.
Note: Some biographical information is derived from the collection.
The G. Burton Pearson, Jr. Papers include personal correspondence, papers, and photographs from his birth in 1905 until shortly before his death in 1999. The Pearson papers also contain correspondence, papers, and photographs from some of Burton Pearson’s ancestors, dating from about 1840 to the 1950s. The collection has been arranged in two series: I. George Burton Pearson, Jr.’s papers; and II. Pearson family papers, which contains the papers of relatives from the Pearson, Cochran, Warren, and Hardcastle families. Family photographs and correspondence between Pearson, his parents, and his aunt, Oka Cochran Warren, between about 1880 and 1950, form the bulk of the collection.
The collection, especially the photographic series, (I.3 and II.3), is strong as a source of Delaware local and family history. For example, the collection includes photographs of members of the Pearson, Cochran, Warren, and Hardcastle families of Delaware and Maryland. Photographs of early-twentieth-century Middletown depict Delaware architecture, children at school and at play, pets, domestic life, and leisure activities. The collection contains a real estate advertisement and several photographs of the Pearson family home at 94 East Main Street, Newark, Delaware. Extensive genealogical information on the Pearson, Cochran, and Hardcastle families of Maryland and Delaware is available in the collection, (Series I.4).
The collection reveals much more about Burton Pearson’s relationships with his parents and his aunt, Oka Cochran Warren, than about his professional life. The Princeton materials, (F2, F3, F25 through F36, and F86), contain correspondence between Pearson, his parents, and his aunt about daily matters such as pocket money and laundry, as well as student life. One letter has a piece of the goalpost from the Princeton-Yale game of 1925 pierced through the top of it. Course notes, grade reports, exams, bills for tuition and housing, social activities, yearbooks, and photographs of Princeton colleagues are also included.
Much of the correspondence from Pearson’s mother, Estelle, and her sister, Oka, contains Christian Science messages and clippings from the Christian Science Monitor (F11). Another strength of the collection is the large assortment of valentines, Christmas cards, birthday cards, greeting cards, and photographic postcards. Some of the valentines are handmade from wallpaper scraps; there are also many examples of early-twentieth-century manufactured cards, such as Tuck’s valentines and postcards. Photographic postcards depict early-twentieth-century street scenes of Middletown, Delaware. There are several sets of photographic postcards of Europe in the 1920s and the Los Angeles Expo of 1939.
The collection includes a few pieces of correspondence between Pearson and Hugh Morris, in whose office Pearson worked from 1931 until 1939 (F5). There are several photographs of Pearson’s judical associates, including one of Judge Victor B. Woolley (F94). The oral history that Pearson contributed in 1993 for the Delaware Bar history project on the Delaware Supreme Court, along with Pearson’s revisions, is included in Series I.2 (F76 and F77). There are a small number of papers and photographs related to Pearson’s work on the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware (F68 through F72). Pearson apparently became involved in the General Semantics movement in the late 1940s. The collection includes papers and minutes of congresses of the Institute of General Semantics, including essays by Count Korzybski, S.I. Hayakawa, and one that Pearson delivered at the Institute’s Third Congress in 1949 (F51 through F58).
I. G. Burton Pearson, Jr. Papers, 1905-1999
1. Correspondence, 1906-1995
2. Papers, c. 1910-1999
3. Photographs, 1905- c. 1990
4. Genealogical Materials, 1980s
II. Pearson Family Papers, c. 1840-1950
1. Correspondence, c. 1882-1945
2. Papers, c. 1870-1940
3. Photographs, c. 1840-1950
4. Miscellaneous Newspapers, 1912-1949
Box -- Folder -- Contents
1 Series I. G. Burton Pearson, Jr. Papers, 1905-1999
Arranged in four subseries by correspondence, papers,
photographs, and genealogical materials. Each subseries
is arranged chronologically to highlight Pearson’s
changing interests and activities. Series I.4,
Genealogical Materials bridges the two series.
Series I.1 Correspondence, 1906-1995
Contains personal correspondence; valentines, greeting
cards and postcards, some made by Tuck’s;
correspondence from college years at Princeton; letters
reflecting Christian Science beliefs.
F1 Childhood, 1906-1921
Princeton
F2 1923-1925
F3 1926-1927
F4 Early Career, 1931-1935
Contains a letter to Hugh Morris and two cards from
him.
F5 Career, 1936-1939
Contains correspondence with Hugh Morris, receipts from
Middletown businesses, and a letter concerning
Pearson’s account at Jacob Reed’s Sons, Philadelphia.
F6 Personal, 1940-1942
Contains letters and postcards from relatives to
Pearson and his wife, Isabella Turner, an invitation to
their wedding, and a letter (in English) from a French
friend, André Aupetit, concerning the outbreak of World
War II.
F7 War Years, 1943-1945
Contains correspondence with the Aupetit family,
clippings about the domestic wartime travel crisis,
Christian Science clippings, letters on stationery from
the Essex and Sussex in Spring Lake Beach, NJ, and a
letter from Pearson to his mother mentioning the
failing health of Judge Woolley.
Family Life
F8 1946-1948
Contains menus from The Inn at Buck Hill Falls in the
Poconos.
F9 1949-1998
Contains Delaware business ephemera and correspondence
with Lord Buckhurst.
F10 Miscellaneous, undated.
1
F11 Christian Science, 1931-1943
Contains inspirational letters and clippings from
Pearson’s mother, Estelle Cochran Pearson.
F12 Postcards, 1908-1918
Some contain scenes of early Middletown.
F13 Valentines, 1906-1915
Contains many examples of valentines, ranging from
homemade to Tuck’s.
F14 Graduation and Greeting Cards, 1920-1935
F15 Birthday and Greeting Cards, 1939-1942
F16 Birthday and Anniversary Cards, 1943-1945
Birth Congratulations
F17 1945
Cards, tags from gifts and flower arrangements
congratulating the Pearsons on the birth of their first
child.
F18 September-October, 1945
F19 October-November, 1945
F20 Birthday and Greeting Cards, 1946-1995
F21 Cards, undated
Includes one Tuck’s Christmas card.
1 Series I.2. Papers, c. 1910-1999
Contains administrative records and ephemera from
Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania; papers
and correspondence from the Institute for General
Semantics; the Supreme Court of Delaware History
sponsored by the Delaware Bar History Project; and the
University of Delaware Board of Trustees.
F22 Childhood, c. 1910-1919
Includes Pearson’s composition book from Middletown
grammar school.
Wilmington Friends School
F23 1921-23
Includes programs, grades, and diploma from Wilmington
Friends School.
F24 Whittier Miscellany, 1922
Princeton
F25 Administrative, 1922-1931
F26 Ephemera, 1923-1927
Includes address books, leather bound mementos of
“Class Day, 1927,” campus songbook, and a pocket sized
Princeton Handbook.
F27 Freshman Herald, 1927
2 F28 Schoolwork Prints, Part 1
F29 Schoolwork Prints, Part 2
F30 Class Notes 1, Government
F31 Class Notes 2, Art History
F32 Class Notes 3, Architecture 304
F33 Class Notes 4, Architecture 303
F34 Nassau Literary Magazine, 1925
F35 Nassau Herald, 1927
F36 Twenty-Year Reunion, 1947
F37 Passport, 1927-1928
University of Pennsylvania
F38 Administrative, 1928-1934
Includes letters of admission, grades, financial
papers.
F39 Coursework and Exams, 1929-1931
F40 Commencement, 1931
F41 Erskine School, 1929-1940
Isabella Turner Pearson attended this school, located
in Boston, MA.
F42 Selective Service, 1940
F43 Legal Stationery, undated
F44 Address Books, undated
F45 Maps, 1915-1941
Includes four topographical maps of Delaware, Maryland,
and New Jersey.
F46 Law Career, 1927-1949
Includes copies of correspondence relating to Pearson’s
appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Delaware.
2
F47 “Disposition of Unclaimed Trust Funds,” Trusts and
Estates, 1943
Copy of a legal journal containing the above article
written by Pearson.
F48 Law Quarterly Review, 1946
F49 Tribute to Judge Woolley, 1938-1945
Includes correspondence with Judge Woolley about the
Society of Colonial Wars, copies of tributes to Judge
Woolley given by Hugh Morris and James Morford.
F50 Patent Law Association, undated
Semantics
3 F51 Papers by Korzybski, 1936-1946
F52 Reviews, 1934-1943
F53 Applied Papers, 1934-1949
F54 Papers by S.I. Hayakawa, 1938-1943
F55 Monographs, 1939-1942
F56 Institute for General Semantics, 1937-1950
F57 Congresses, 1935, 1941
F58 Third Congress, 1948-1949
Includes “Semantics and the Law,” written by Pearson.
F59 Delaware Tercentenary Day Assembly, 1938
Includes a paper titled “Beginnings of Delaware”
delivered by Hugh Morris at University of Delaware.
F60 GBP Judiciary License Plate, 1942
F61 Wilmington Trust, 1954, 1964
F62 The Queen’s Garden Party, 1966
F63 Dechert Price & Rhoads, 1975
Autographed copy, “For Edie and Burt,” of Dechert Price
& Rhoads: A Law Firm Centennial, 1975 by Robert V.
Massey, Jr.
F64 The Hagley Cookbook, 1983
3 F65 Miscellaneous Activities, 1923-1999
Includes certificate of membership in Wilmington
Country Club; Alumni Bulletin Wilmington Friends
School; Crusade for Freedom; Republican Medal.
F66 Winetasting
2 items: Guide and Cellar Book from Concorde Air France
wine country tour; “Chevalier du Tastevin” certificate,
1971.
F67 Delaware History, 1986
University of Delaware
F68 Inauguration of President Russel C. Jones, 1987
F69 Diploma, 1988
F70 Honorary Doctor of Laws, 1988
F71 Honorary Degree Sandra Day O’Connor, 1990
F72 Board of Trustees, 1987-1995
F73 Mill Reef Club, 1988-1989
F74 Memorial Session Chancellor William Marvel, 1992
F75 Salute to Elbert N. Carvel, 1993
Delaware Bar History Project
F76 Oral Interview 1 (First Draft), 1993
F77 Oral Interview 2 (Revision), 1993
4 F78 Notes and Correspondence, 1993-1994
F79 Miscellaneous Papers, various dates
Includes Delaware ephemera, Boy Scouts of America War
Service Medal, 1918; Pearson’s Pennsylvania RR ticket
from 1931; French francs.
Series I.3 Photographs, 1904-c. 1990
Contains snapshots; European travel photographs and
photographic postcards; and professional portraits from
Wilmington studios such as Cummings and Sanborn.
F80 Childhood Baby Portraits, 1905-1906
F81 Childhood Portraits, 1906-1911
F82 Childhood Photograph Album
F83 Photographs of friends, c. 1910-1925
Includes many photographs of pets, some Middletown
outdoor scenes.
F84 Youth Portraits, c. 1920s
F85 Young Adult Portraits, 1924-1927
Includes four copies of a Cummings photograph, dated
1926. Handwritten on the back cover of one is “G.
Burton Pearson, Jr. July 1924 – Beedle Officer at
Marshalltown, Del –”
F86 Princeton, 1924-1927
F87 European Trip, 1927
Photographic Postcards
F88 France, 1920s
F89 Europe (Germany, Belgium), 1920s
F90 England, 1920s
F91 Expo Los Angeles, 1939
F92 Park Von Sanssouci, 1920s
Twenty professional photographs of German tourist
attractions.
F93 Judge Pearson Portraits, c. 1940-1990
F94 Judicial Associates
Includes an autographed portrait of Judge Woolley dated
1933.
F95 Leisure Activities, c. 1930s-1940s
F96 Vacations, c. 1940s-1950s
Includes photographs of Xanadu, Irenée du Pont’s estate
in Cuba.
F97 Family Portraits and Snapshots, 1940s-1960s
F98 State Department Dinner, 1978
F99 Family Life, c. 1970s-1990s
F100 Two Photographs
“Explosives Department, 1940-1944”; group portrait,
possibly University of Delaware Trustees, by Willard
Stewart, (c. 1950?).
4 Series I.4 Genealogical Materials, 1980s
Includes obituaries, family correspondence
specifically related to genealogy, a mid-
nineteenth-century Delaware deed, professional
prepared genealogies for the Pearson and Cochran
families, and information on the Alrich family
reunion.
F101 Research Notes and Charts
Obituary for Robert Thomas Cochran; Hardcastle and
Bromwell genealogies.
F102 Genealogical and Historical Sketch Pearson Family, 1984
F103 Cochran Family Notebook, 1986
F104 Hardcastle Family Bible
Three xeroxed copies of family genealogy pages from the
bible.
F105 Cochran Family Crest
F106 Ancestral Lives of George Burton Pearson, Jr.
F107 Alrich Reunion, 1986
F108 Ambruster Deed, 1864
Series II. Pearson Family Papers, c. 1840-1950
Includes correspondence, papers, and photographs of
Pearson, Cochran, Hardcastle, Matlack, and Warren
families, ancestors and relatives of G. Burton Pearson,
Jr.
Series II.1 Correspondence, c. 1882-1945
George Burton Pearson, Sr.
5 F109 Courtship, 1889-1900
Contains letters of Estelle Cochran and George Burton
Pearson, Sr.
F110 Marriage, 1900
F111 Estelle Cochran Pearson, 1902-1918
F112 Family, 1923-1941
F113 Family, 1942-1945
F114 Undated
F115 Cochran Family, 1882-1908
F116 Cochran Family, 1910-1943
Contains photographic postcards depicting Middletown,
DE, and Trenton, NJ, 1920s.
F117 Hardcastle Family, 1901
Two letters mention Christian Science.
Series II.2 Papers, c. 1870-1940
George Burton Pearson, Sr.
F118 Pearson Diary, 1895
Diary kept by George Burton Pearson, Sr., while a
student at Harvard Medical School.
F119 “On the Training of Parents,” The Outlook, 1907
Two-part magazine article, annotated, possibly by
George Burton Pearson, Sr.
F120 Miscellaneous, c. 1918-1945
Contains Estelle Pearson’s World War II Ration Book,
and a 1918 real estate advertisement for 94 E. Main
Street, Newark, DE, the Pearson’s home.
F121 Moravian Seminary, 1887-1888
Estelle Cochran’s report cards (4 items); four pages of
stories written by anonymous child(ren).
F122 Carlyle Birthday Book, 1887
F123 Warren Family, 1906-1920
Miscellaneous papers and letters belonging to Oka
Cochran Warren, Pearson’s aunt; includes prayer book,
“Daily Strength for Daily Needs.”
F124 Mrs. E. P. Matlack Will, 1910
Mentions Outcalt, Cook, Connable family names,
relatives of the Pearsons.
F125 Matlack Scrapbook, c. 1850-1998
Marbled leather cover, very poor condition, many items
laid in. Includes
Cincinnati and New York newspaper clippings of fiction,
morals, Civil War,
Lincoln assassination; letters from Alice Outcalt of
Selma, Ohio about a trip to Los Angeles in 1885;
programs, cards, and recipes.5
Series II.3. Photographs, c. 1840-1950
Pearson Family
F126 Portraits, 1860s-1890s
Studio portraits of George Burton Pearson, Sr., family
of origin. Studios include Elmer Chickering, Boston;
Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia; and Perkins, Baltimore.
F127 Portraits, 1900s-1917
Most are from Taylor “Orr” Studio, Elberton, GA.
George Burton Pearson, Sr., Portraits
6 F128 1897-1915
F129 1940s-1950s
George Burton Pearson, Sr., Family
F130 Estelle Cochran Pearson, undated
Photo by Gutekunst, Philadelphia.
F131 Postcards Album
Photographic postcards of Pearson, Jr., and birth
announcements, 1905.
F132 Estelle and Pearson, Jr., 1905-1916
F133 Family Portraits, 1907-1915
F134 Family Snapshots, 1900-1930s
F135 Homes, 1920s-1950s
Includes photographs of 94 E. Main St., Newark, DE.
F136 Family Transportation, 1899-1920s
Horse and buggy, automobiles, Pearson, Sr. with auto
outside 94 E. Main Street, Newark, DE, c. 1920.
Hardcastle Family
F137 Sally Hardcastle, 1840s
Contains a hand colored photograph by J.H. Young,
Baltimore.
F138 Robert Emmet and Anna Maria Bromwell Hardcastle, 1870s
Five items, two by Gutekunst, Philadelphia.
F139 Family Portraits, 1880s-1920s
Contains two Bachrach studio portraits
F140 Tintype, poor condition, Preston Hardcastle family
F141 Leisure Snapshots, c. 1880s-1920s
F142 Cochran/Hardcastle Album, undated
Approximately 3-1/2” x 5”, leather bound, “Photographs”
printed on spine; contains photos of Robert Thomas
Cochran, brother of Delaware governor John P. Cochran,
original photograph of Sally Hardcastle (see F137).
Cochran Family
6 F143 Portraits, c. 1850-1910
Studios include J. Paul Brown, M. & W. Garrett, both of
Wilmington, DE, Gutekunst, Philadelphia; Dana, New
York, NY.
F144 Thomas and Margaret Hardcastle Cochran, c. 1860-1910
Contains 1 tintype; Dana “carbonette”; Carl,
Washington, DC; two Cummings.
F145 Cochran Sisters, (Estelle, Oka, Corinne), c. 1880s
F146 Portraits, c. 1890
Eight items, including four cyanotypes.
F147 Cochran, Hardcastle, Pearson family gathering, c. 1900
Eight items. Family members gathered on what is
probably the back porch of the Cochran family home in
Middletown, DE. One photo shows a domestic servant.
F148 Extended Family Portraits and Snapshots, c. 1880s-1940s
F149 Framed Portrait, undated
Labeled on back, Cummings Studio, Wilmington, DE.
F150 Home on Crawford Street, Middletown, 1908
F151 Middletown Scenes, 1909-1914
Contains photographs of blizzard of 1909-1910; children
playing; students at Middletown Public School, 1914.
F152 Warren Family Home, c. 1910
Snapshots of interiors, domestic servants, pets.
F153 Matlack, Outcalt, Cook Family Members, undated
F154 Negatives, undated, poor condition
F155 Miscellaneous
Contains portraits and snapshots of unidentified
people; several studio portraits including one signed
“Wright & Cook” Philadelphia.
7 Oversize Box (.3 linear ft.)
Oversize documents and photos removed from Boxes 1-6.
OS1 F156 Titanic, 1912
F157 Paris-Soir, 1938
F158 Engagement and Wedding of Pearson and Isabella Turner,
1941
F159 World War II
F160 Pearson appointment as Judge Rodney’s Successor, 1946
F161 Estelle Cochran Pearson Obituaries, 1947
F162 Pearson Resignation from Judiciary, 1949
OS2 Oversize Mss Box
Oversize material removed from Boxes 1-6.
Back
to the UD Special Collections Home Page
Return
to List of Manuscript Finding Aids by Title