Dart & Dart and Prior Firms COLLECTION

 

 

(Mss 140)

 

 

Inventory

 

 

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

 

May 1999

 

 

Contents

 

 

Summary

 

Historical Note

 

Series, Subseries, and Descriptions

 

Container List

 

Index Terms

 

Procedures for Requesting Special Collections Materials

 

 

 

Summary

 

 

Size:                          29.5 linear feet and more than 600 printed items

 

Geographic

locations:                 New Orleans, La.

 

Inclusive dates:      1881-1981

 

Bulk dates:              1881-1934

 

Summary:                A collection of manuscripts and printed works, compiled or collected by Henry Plauché Dart (1858-1934), pertaining to his career as an eminent Louisiana attorney, historian, and editor, with a few items concerning his heirs, also active in the family firm.  Consists mainly of legal office files, personal and business correspondence, and financial records.  Noteworthy items in the collection include files pertaining to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, whom Henry Plauché Dart represented.

 

Related

collections:              Dart & Dart Collection (Mss 61); Dart & Dart Collection, Addendum 1 (Mss 150); William Kernan Dart Collection (Mss 154); Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives (Mss 106); John A. Dixon, Jr. Collection (Mss 216); Henry P. Dart, Jr. Diary (Mss 327)

 

Source:                     Gift, 1981

 

Access:                     No restrictions

 

Copyright:                Physical rights, copyright, and literary property rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

 

Citation:                    Dart & Dart and Prior Firms Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

 

 

 

Biographical Note

 

 

            Henry Plauché Dart, an attorney, historian, and editor, was born on February 5, 1858, at Fort St. Philip, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.  He was the ninth of ten children of Henry Dart (1807-1886), a superintendent of construction and public works projects, and Mary Brown Plauché (1823-1897).  Educated in the public elementary schools of New Orleans, Dart served as a clerk with the New Orleans law firm of Cotton & Levy from 1872 to 1879 and was admitted to the Louisiana bar on February 11, 1879.  The following year, Dart established his law office in New Orleans and argued before the Louisiana Supreme Court for the first time.  The firm would remain in business for more than a century and would undergo several changes of title as various family members formed partnerships.

 

            On September 23, 1882, Dart married Mary Lytle Kernan (1860-1912) of Clinton, Louisiana.  They had seven children: Henry Plauché, Jr. (b. 1883), William Kernan (b. 1885), May Wall (b. 1886), John (1888-1980), Benjamin Wall (1890-1964), Sally (b. 1892), and Edith (b. 1893).  In 1893 Dart was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Two years later, he joined with his brother-in-law to form the firm of Dart & Kernan, specializing in corporate law and particularly in banking, insurance, and transportation companies.  All four of Dart's sons entered the law firm, which, as Dart & Dart, was dissolved in 1981.

 

            During his illustrious career, Henry Plauché Dart argued some three hundred cases before the Louisiana Supreme Court and served as president of the Louisiana Bar Association from 1898 to 1901.  From 1920 to 1922 he was a lecturer in legal history at Loyola University in New Orleans, which awarded him an honorary LL.D. degree in 1921.  Dart served on numerous boards and committees.  In 1920 he was appointed archivist of the Louisiana Historical Society and edited the organization's journal, The Louisiana Historical Quarterly from 1922 to 1934.  A frequent contributor to that publication and to law periodicals, Dart was the author of six monographs, including Sources of the Civil Code of Louisiana (1911) and Courts and Law in Colonial Louisiana (1921).  He died on September 27, 1934.

 

            Dart's sons also distinguished themselves.  John served in World War I, leaving the Army with the rank of colonel, and spent two years as a state legislator.  Benjamin practiced law in New Orleans from 1913 to 1948, when he moved to Clinton, Louisiana, continuing to practice law in East Feliciana Parish until 1958.  He edited two volumes of Louisiana's General Statutes, Louisiana Civil Code and Code of Criminal Procedure (both 1931), and Constitutions of Louisiana, 1812-1921.

 

 

 

List of Series and Subseries

 

 

Series I.    Papers of Dart & Dart and prior firms.  Boxes 1-29.

 

Series II.        Papers of Henry Plauché Dart (1858-1934) and Dart family.  Boxes 30-49.

 

Series III.       Scrapbooks and news clippings: Dart & Dart (and prior legal firms), Henry Plauché Dart, and members of the Dart family.  Boxes 50-56.

 

 

 

Container List

 

 

Series I.  Papers of Dart & Dart and prior firms (boxes 1-29).

 

Box 1:  Articles of partnership, 1907-1919; Index of cases, 1 v.

               

             Folder 1:        Dart & Kernan; Dart, Kernan & Dart: Partnership agreements, 1907-1919. 7 items.

 

                                    Dart & Kernan, 1907 (Henry Plauché Dart, Benjamin W. Kernan, Henry Plauché Dart, Jr., William Kernan Dart); Dart, Kernan & Dart, 1911 (John Dart, Benjamin W. Dart, new partners); 1919 renewal (after death, William Kernan Dart); income distributions to partners.

 

             Folder 2:        Dart & Kernan; Dart, Kernan & Dart: Cases in the Louisiana Supreme Court, records of wins and losses, 1906-n.d. 1 item.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, Dart & Kernan, 1879-1906: ca. 67% wins; 1906-[1914], ca. 61%, rates, other courts.

 

             Folder 3:        "Index to old records, D. & D." [Dart & Dart]

 

                                    Bound volume (expandable), ca. 600 p.  File title of case or name of client.  Names indexed, collectively, under initial letter.  Fall 1908-1933.  1 item.

 

                                    Titles of cases or firms; many titles annotated "folders destroyed"; Index represents legal work in addition to Office File titles, Boxes 3-13.

 

Box 2: Papers of Edward Douglass White, lease and sale of Lafourche (White) Sugar Refining Co., Ltd.

 

             Folder 1:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Correspondence.  Out file (from Dart Kernan & Dart).

                                    1914-1923.  110 items.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, agent for E.D. White, Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court.  White sugar plantation and refinery, lease, 1914-1916; sale, 1917; payment, 1919.  (TCs, telegrams).

 

             Folder 2:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Correspondence.  In file (from E. D. White).

                                    1914-1916.  47 items.

 

                                    E. D. White: plantation and refinery; White's activities on U.S. Supreme Court and concerning U.S. District Court; (19 ALS, 2 telegrams); from others: plantation lease.

 

             Folder 3:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Correspondence.  In file.

                                    1917-1918.  70 items.                     

 

                                    E. D. White: plantation and refinery, insurance, lease, sale; World War I; influenza epidemic.

 

             Folder 4:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Correspondence.  In file.

                                    1919-1923.  14 items.

 

                                    E. D. White: plantation and refinery, sale; opinions, U.S. Supreme Court.  (9 ALS, 1 telegram); from others: plantation sale (letters, enclosures); White's death, estate, Dart's memorials.

 

             Folder 5:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Financial records.

                                    1878-1921, n.d.  42 items.

 

                                    Successions, E. D. White, wife, children, 1878-1919; Lafourche Sugar Refining Co., Ltd., charter, leases, sale, 1889-1918.  New Orleans property, 1921.

 

             Folder 6:        Dart, Kernan & Dart: Edward Douglass White file.  Financial records.  1914-1919.  14 items.

 

                                    E. D. White, Canal Bank & Trust Co., passbook, 1918, Henry Plauché Dart, agent; settlement, Brousseau heirs, 1919; notes, n.d.

 

Box 3:  Office files #922-16612.  (Numbers established by firm for files.  The locations of files for omitted numbers are unknown.

 

             Folder 1:        Dart, Henry P.

                                    [unnumbered file]: Bowers v. Board of health of the State of Louisiana, 1898.  1 item.                                  

 

                                    U.S. Circuit Court.  Eastern Division, Louisiana Equity.  Petition, Eaton J. Bowers: quarantine, yellow fever in Mississippi.

 

             Folder 2:        Dart, Kernan & Dart.

                                    #922: American Cities Co., 1911.  1 item.

 

                                    Subsidiary companies, public utilities, interurban lines, Dart's opinions on consolidation (reference to).

 

             Folder 3:        Dart, Henry P.

                                    #5027: Hernandez, Joseph, Succession of.  1886-1899, n.d.  11 items.

 

                                    Charles Hernandez, New Orleans cotton factor v. Creditors: household inventory, family paintings; Louisiana Troy Laundry Co. stock.

 

             Folder 4:        Dart & Kernan.

                                    #7046: Solari, Mrs. A. M., Succession of.  1880-1902.  79 items.

 

                                    Solari partnership, Tulane Education Fund, Takamine Ferment Co., W. Va.; Cosmopolitan Hotel and other New Orleans properties; U.S. taxes.

 

             Folder 5:        Dart, Kernan & Dart.

                                    #7672: Canal-Commercial Trust & Savings Bank.  1893-July, 1919, n.d.  52 items.

 

                                    Canal Bank & Trust Co., Commercial Trust & Savings Bank, and other banks, charters, mergers.  Directors' meetings, agreements, acts of sale, correspondence.

 

             Folder 6:        Dart, Kernan & Dart.

                                    #7672.  Canal-Commercial Trust & Savings Bank.  August 1919-1928, n.d.  42 items (and copies).

 

                                    Charter, amendments, minutes, correspondence; merger, 1919.

 

             Folder 7:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #16612.  Rathborne, Joseph.  Papers.  1914-1923, n.d.  20 items.

                                      

                                    Signed drafts (MS, Tc) of wills, 1914-1923; certified printed copy: Last will and testament, 1921, 1923 (n.d.), 14 p.

 

Box 4:  Office files #19254-21569.

 

             Folder 1:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #19254. Richbend Plantation.  August 1934.  1 item.

 

                                    Oil, gas and mineral lease, Richbend, St. James Parish, La.  B. F. Karstein, E. M. Cromwell, Raymond Moseley.

 

             Folder 2:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #19808. Metairie Park, Inc.  1881-1923.  49 items.

 

                                    Acts of sale, agreements, correspondence, chains of title, minutes of meetings, mortgages, maps.  William R. Irby, Secretary-Treasurer; also Metairie Golf Club, Metairie Suburb Realty Co., Ltd., Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Co.

 

             Folder 3:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #19808. Metairie Park, Inc.  1924-1925.  21 items.

 

                                    Acts of sale, agreements, correspondence, minutes of meetings, mortgage; also, Metairie Golf Club.

 

             Folder 4:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #20198. Metairie Park, Inc.  1926-1938, n.d. 20 items.

 

                                    Acts of sale, minutes, mortgages; also, Metairie Golf Club.

 

             Folder 5:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #20650. Dimitry estate, H. P. Dart, trustee.  1916-1928.  12 items.

 

                                    Oak Grove Lodge, Pass Christian, Miss., William R. Irby, President; Dimitry estate: Theodore J. Dimitry, H. P. Dart, et al., trustees.  Imprints: Dimitry estate (1925); Will, W. R. Irby (1926).

 

             Folder 6:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21226.  Marrero, William, Succession of.  1927-1932.  5 items.

 

                                    Will, taxes, petition of legatee, household inventory.

 

             Folder 7:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21395.  Ricks, Adolph, Succession of.  1928.  2 items.  Property inventory.

 

             Folder 8:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21418.  Bultman, Anthony.  Succession of.  1911-1939.  15 items.

 

                                    Acts of settlement, suits in court, Anthony F. Bultman will; also, Tharp-Bultman, act of incorporation, 1911.

 

             Folder 9:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21433. Beatrous, Mrs. F., Succession of.  1925-1941.  5 items.

 

                                    Inventory of real estate, Jefferson Parish.  Grace Hayne Beatrous, St. Tammany Parish.

 

             Folder 10:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #21569.  Metairie Bank.  Charter.  1926.  2 items.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, major shareholder (245/350); also, William R. Irby, Walter F. Jahncke.

 

Box 5:  Office files #21616-22274.

 

             Folder 1:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21616.  Reynaud, Frank, Succession of.  1928-1939.  12 items.

 

                                    Firmin and Josephine Reynaud, Lutcher, La., wills, inventory, New Orleans real estate.

 

             Folder 2:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21763.  Swarbrick, George, Succession of.  1928.  1 item.

 

                                    Map: Mississippi batture (Westbank, Southeastern District), Groleau's tract, New Orleans, F. H. Waddell, C. E.

 

             Folder 3:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21800. Stauffer, Eshleman & Co.  n.d.  3 items.

 

                                    Case authorities on bills, notes.

 

             Folder 4:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21832. McClure Realty Co. Charter.  1928-1944.  17 items.

 

                                    Company liquidation, sale; Robert C. McClure, will; plats, New Orleans, 1st District (3).

 

             Folder 5:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21833. Metryclub Gardens Association.  Charter.  1929-1942.  3 items.

 

                                    Prior sale, Metairie Park, Inc., to Metryclub Gardens, Jefferson Parish, La.

 

             Folder 6:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21878.  White, Edward Douglass, Succession of.  1919-1961.  65 items.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, attorney for Edward Douglass White, will, estate, plantation mortgage, New Orleans real estate; proposed biography by Robert B. Highsaw, Vanderbilt University.

 

             Folder 7:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21878.  White, Leita Montgomery (Mrs. Edward Douglass White).  1921-1926.  64 items.

 

                                    Estate, E. D. White: plantation, cypress, New Orleans real estate; Loeb & Kohlmeyer, purchaser.

  

             Folder 8:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #21878.  White v. Succession of Ernest M. Loeb.  1927-1928.  90 items.

 

                                    Suit by Leita Montgomery White v. Ernest M. Loeb.  Sale of E.D. White plantation, Lafourche Parish, 1928.

 

             Folder 9:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #22039.  Pipes, David W., Succession of.  1927.  1 item.

 

                                    Will.  No attorneys named.

 

             Folder 10:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22061. Sanders, Mathew James and I. Flora Miller Sanders.  Wills, 1931, 1946.  2 items.

 

                                    Attorneys: M. J. Sanders; Dart & Dart; I. F. M. Sanders: Dart, Guidry and Price.

 

             Folder 11:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22070.  Leidenheimer, George H., Succession of.  1918-1923.  6 items.

 

                                    Estate: real property, household inventory.

 

             Folder 12:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22142.  Rapp, George, Succession of.  1929.  3 items.

 

                                    Estate: George Rapp; Mrs. E. Rapp Tranchina v. Rapp's heirs.

 

             Folder 13:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22147.  Davis, Mr. & Mrs. George H.  1922-1931.  4 items.

 

                                    G. H. Davis and Katherine McGrath Davis: act of sale, lease, property fronting Audubon Park.

 

             Folder 14:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22194.  Bertucci, Peter, Succession of.  1919-1929.  4 items.

   

                                    Will, petition, judgment.

 

             Folder 15:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22224.  Rathborne, Joseph, Estate of.  1930.  1 item.

 

                                    Highway No. 1, Jefferson Parish, agreement, Rathborne estate and Police Jury.

 

             Folder 16:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22240.  Joseph Rathborne Lumber Co.  1922.  3 items.

 

                                    Ponchatoula, La., Mayor, Board of Aldermen, proceedings, sewerage district.

 

             Folder 17:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22274.  Joseph Rathborne Land Co., Inc.  1929-1931, n.d.  3 items.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, President; donation, Barataria District, Jefferson Parish, land, Intercoastal Waterway.

 

             Folder 18:      Dart & Dart.

                                    #22274.  Joseph Rathborne Land & Lumber Co., Inc.  1927-1954.  46 items.  

 

                                    J. Rathborne Lumber Co., Inc., liquidation, and sale, 1935, to J. Rathborne Land Co., Inc. (later, J. Rathborne Land and Lumber Co., Inc.), deeds (bound volume).

 

Box 6:  Office files #22298-23341.

 

             Folder 1:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #22298. Irby, W. R.  1920-1930, n.d.  15 items.

 

                                    William R. Irby, President, Canal-Commercial Trust & Savings Bank; Place d'Armes restoration; Cabildo Archives Building; French Legion of Honor award.

 

             Folder 2:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #22363.  Rathborne, Joseph, Lumber Co.  1918-1930.  2 items.

 

                                    Succession, Joseph Rathborne: right-of-way petition, Hammond-Orleans, State Highway #33 (blueprint).

 

             Folder 3:        Dart & Dart.

                                    #22437.  Cordill C. C. Investment Co.  1930.  3 items.

 

                                    Henry Plauché Dart, counsel.  Lyons Building, for Cotton Cooperative Association (blueprint).

 

             Folder 4:        Dart & Dart.