2022-09-20 Preliminary Inventory of the William C. Dixon State Relief Commission of Ohio Papers, 1938-1939, 1981 SPEC.RARE.CMS.0036 Finding aid prepared by Lindsay Resnick Ohio State University Libraries Special Collections
1858 Neil Avenue Columbus, OH, 43210
2022 September

base record only

 This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2022-09-20T17:09-0400 English Describing Archives: A Content Standard William C. Dixon State Relief Commission of Ohio Papers SPEC.RARE.CMS.0036 Ohio State University Libraries Special Collections 0.25 Cubic feet 1938-1939, 1981 William Cornelius Dixon (1904-1997) was an American lawyer, jurist, and public administrator in Ohio, and later, California. The William C. Dixon State Relief Commission of Ohio Papers, dated 1938-1939, 1981, contains statistics and reports, correspondence, and a disassembled scrapbook of newspaper clippings relating to the tenure of William C. Dixon as State Director of Relief in Ohio during the latter part of the Great Depression. (1) 2.5" legal document box English Dixon, William C. (William Cornelius), 1904- Arrangement of Materials

This collection is unprocessed. Materials are arranged in the order received.

 Acquisitions Information

Donated by William C. Dixon, 1981

 Preferred Citation

[identification of item], William C. Dixon State Relief Commission of Ohio Papers, SPEC.RARE.CMS.0036, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University

 Access to Materials

Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Thompson Library Special Collections reading room only.

 Use of Materials

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.

 Processing Information

This collection is unprocessed. Finding aid written by: Lindsay Resnick, 2022 September

 Biographical Note

William Cornelius Dixon (1904-1997) was an American lawyer, jurist, and public administrator in Ohio, and later, California. Born in Dexter, New York, he was educated at the University of Michigan, where he earned his bachelor's and law degrees. In 1928, he was admitted to the Ohio bar and settled in Cleveland, where he practiced at several prominent firms throughout the following decade. In 1934, he ran for the United States House of Representatives for Ohio's 22nd district, but lost. On July 22, 1938, Governor Martin L. Davey appointed Dixon as the Director of the State Relief Commission of Ohio, which distributed funds through county relief commissions to help Ohioans who had lost their jobs in the Great Depression. The term, intended to last until April 1939, ended prematurely due to budget cuts on February 2, 1939. Also in 1938, Dixon was elected to serve as a State Supreme Court justice to fill the rest of the term of a justice who had recently died. He served in that position for two months. After his time on the Ohio Supreme Court, Dixon returned to Cleveland to practice law, later relocating to Los Angeles to work in private practice and later for the State of California on antitrust issues. He retired in 1963, and died in San Diego, California at the age of 92.

 Scope and Contents

The William C. Dixon State Relief Commission of Ohio Papers, dated 1938-1939, 1981, contains statistics and reports, correspondence, and a disassembled scrapbook of newspaper clippings relating to the tenure of William C. Dixon as State Director of Relief in Ohio during the latter part of the Great Depression. The statistics give insight into how different counties in Ohio fared during this time, as well as the amount of financial relief each county received and how that changed over time. The correspondence in this collection is between Dixon and various county relief directors throughout Ohio, mostly focusing on investigations of individuals and families who they believed were undeserving of receiving state relief funds. The disassembled scrapbook contains newspaper clippings about Dixon's time as State Director of Relief, particularly the beginning and end of his term, as well as three clippings from the Wall Street Journal from 1981, though it is unclear why these are included in this collection.

 Dixon, William C. (William Cornelius), 1904- State Relief Commission of Ohio Civil servants--Ohio--20th century Clippings (information artifacts) Correspondence Depressions--1929--Ohio Public welfare administration--Ohio--20th century Public welfare--Ohio--20th century Unemployment--Ohio--20th century "Report on Relief Administration in Ohio Under A.S.B. 465, and Recommendations of William C. Dixon, State Director of Relief of Ohio" 1 1 1939 Relief statistics 1 2 1938-1939 Correspondence 1 3 1938 Cleveland relief correspondence 1 4 1938-1939 Clippings 1 5 1938-1939, 1981