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MsC 511

  Manuscript Register

PAPERS OF DAVID ELDERKIN

Collection Dates: 1966 -- 2001
8 linear in.

This document describes a collection of materials held by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Posted to Internet: February 2000

Acquisition Note: This collection was donated to the University of Iowa Libraries by Mr. Elderkin in 1999 -- 2000.

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Photographs: Box 1

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Biographical Note

David MacDuff Elderkin was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on November 5, 1913, the son of Amos A. Elderkin and Elizabeth MacDuff. He graduated from Cedar Rapids High School in 1930 and the University of Iowa in 1935. In 1937, he received a law degree from the University and was admitted to the bar. During World War II, he served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific area. From 1945 to 1950 he was an assistant county attorney in Linn County. Thereafter, he was a trial lawyer in private practice in Cedar Rapids. In 1966 -- 1967 he was president of the Iowa State Bar Association and in 1989 he was named Dean of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers. He was the attorney for Roy J. Carver, the Muscatine, Iowa, industrialist, and he was also on the board of Copley Newspapers.

Scope and Contents

The Papers of David M. Elderkin, 1966 -- 1999, consist of two boxes (eight linear inches) of photocopies of correspondence, editorials, photographs, speeches, and other material of a distinguished Iowa lawyer. Original materials were retained by Mr. Elderkin. There is a considerable amount of correspondence with James S. Flansburg of The Des Moines Register. Mr. Elderkin wrote a number of editorials for The Cedar Rapids Gazette, and gave many talks at Iowa State Bar Association gatherings on current legal matters. Many of his editorials had to do with narcotics and crime. The collection contains photographs of Roy J. Carver, Alan B. Shepard, Richard M. Nixon, Archibald Cox, Dan Quayle, Jack Kemp, and Ronald Reagan.

Box 1

 Biographical material

Correspondence, 1966-1999, mostly letters to David M. Elderkin from lawyers

Correspondence with James Flansburg, 1978 -- 1999

Editorials in The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 1978 -- 2000

Editorials in The Des Moines Register and other publications, 1966 -- 1999

Photographs, including pictures of Roy J. Carver, Alan B. Shepard, Richard M. Nixon, Archibald Cox, Dan Quayle, Jack Kemp, and Ronald Reagan

Speeches and Opinion Pieces

 Bar Admission Ceremony, 1966

 Bar Association Remarks, July 15, 1993

 Bench-Bar Conference, May 1990

 Cameras in Our Courtrooms

 Carl Bowen Eulogy, April 1998

 Cedar Rapids Education Association , November 1968

 Cedar Rapids Rotary, October 4, 1971

 Citizens Conference on Iowa Courts, Keynote Address, September 16, 1970

 A Cold Winter

 Confronting Racism

 Copley Newspapers Board Meeting Dinner Remarks, December 15, 1989

 Critique, Iowa State Bar Asssociation, May 23, 1968

 Dr. Campbell Watts Founders Award Dinner, St. Luke's Health Care Foundation, October 23, 1985

 Drug Wars, July 1991

 Eagle Scout Award Remarks, 1980

From Ragsdale to Wisdom, n. d.

 "Gleanings from Poor Elderkin's Almanac" and other writings

How Americans Respond to War: Agreeing to 'Peace at Any Price" is Not the Answer. The Des Moines Register, Thursday, November 15, 2001.

 In Defense of the Contingent Fee Contract, Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers Seminar, January 1980

 Inflation [1978?]

 Iowa Defense Counsel Association Seminar, April 19, 1974

  Box 2

Speeches and Opinion Pieces (cont.) 

Iowa State Bar Association Annual Speech, 1967

 Iowa State Bar Assocation Annual Speech, 1972

 Iowa State Bar Association Bulletin, January 1968

 The Irrelevance of Guilt, 1984

 John J. Locher, Jr., Memorial Service, November 19, 1970

 Joseph Kinney Funeral, August 2, 1990

 Judge Harold Vietor, December 13, 1996

Knock It Off, John, n. d.

 The Law and Century III, Copley Conference, February 1976

 Law Day, U.S.A., Speech, May 1, 1969

 Loss of Service and Support of Husband and Father or Wife and Mother, Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers Seminar, February 1975

 Medical Malpractice, Testimony before the Iowa Legislative Study Committee, September 9, 1975

 Medical Seminar, Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, 1975

 Memorandum, July 6, 1982

 Michael W. O'Rieley, Linn County Bar Association, 1980

 Minority Report, Ethics Committee, Iowa State Legislature, 1973

 Naturalization Proceedings, Northern District of Iowa, Remarks, October 25, 1988

News 'Sting' Leaves Uneasy Feeling, September 30, 2000

'Outbreak of Sanity': Make drugs legal. The Des Moines Register, Tuesday, July 31, 2001.

Protests and Elian [Gonzalez], n.d.

 Public Forum on Living Wells, June 7, 1990

 Red Mass, Dyersville, Speech, September 11, 1966

 Reflections on the Trial Practice and Predictions for the New Millenium, March 5, 1999

 Remarks at Funeral of Edward H. Jones, 1986

 Remarks at Retirement Ceremony for Judge Edward McManus, January 30, 1985

 Remarks at the Dinner of the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association, June 12, 1984

 Remarks at the Iowa Supreme Court Retirement Ceremony for Chief Justice Ward Reynoldson, September 15, 1987

 Remarks at the William Crissman Funeral

 Remarks to the Washington Debate Society Banquet, May 15, 1984

Remember the O. J. Simpson Trial. The Gazette, June 14, 2001.

 Republican Judicial Convention Speech, Des Moines, 1950

 The Role of the Law, The Iowa LS Profile, Winter, 1969-70

 St. Luke's Foundation Honoring Dr. W.J. Robb, Remarks, July 1989

 Sister Mary Lawrence Hallagan, A Eulogy, November 10, 1999

 Slick Willy, October 26, 1998

 So Sue Me, 1982

 State of Iowa vs. Robert Cunningham Rutledge, 1949, Elderkin's Argument to the Jury

 The Trials of a President of a University, 1967

 "Truth", Philosophy Class, University of Iowa, 1934

 Verne Lawyer Remarks, February 17, 1994

 William Meardon Funeral Remarks

 Who Writes of the Goodness of Mankind

 Why's Why in Cedar Rapids, 1950

 Words and Phrases Worth of the Dignity of Rational Men Born with a Heavy Determination to be a Sovereign State, 1981

 Yrenro Grievance Committee vs. Max Putnam

 
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