ROANOKE TIMES Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170083 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG, VA. SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN BURGER'S collection includes 150 ceremonial robes, pictures, awards and papers valued at $7 million.
The papers and memorabilia former Chief Justice Warren Burger accumulated during his lifetime have arrived at their new home at the College of William and Mary.
Burger, a 17-year Supreme Court veteran appointed as the nation's 15th chief justice by Richard Nixon in 1969, died in June at age 87. He served as the school's chancellor from 1986 to 1993.
``It's the collection of a lifetime,'' said Nancy Marshall, dean of university libraries. ``We've got a lot of other fascinating manuscripts here, but this collection is completely unique.''
Two 18-wheelers and a 28-foot truck delivered some 800 brown boxes of materials that had been stored in a warehouse in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Burger's collection contains more than 2 million items and has been valued at $7 million. Included are about 150 ceremonial robes, pictures, awards and a porcelain sculpture of an eagle presented to Burger in 1991 by members of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
Nearly all the boxes will remain unpacked until an archivist is hired in the fall, Marshall said, adding that it could take between three and five years for library staffers and students to sort through the collection.
``It's a massive undertaking we've started here,'' she said.
William and Mary hopes to make the collection the centerpiece of a Special Collections wing at Swem Library. If fund-raising efforts are successful, that wing could be completed in the next two years, Marshall said.
Other manuscripts among the one million already in the library's collection include some of former Virginia Gov. Mills Godwin's papers, and more than 700 letters to and from Thomas Jefferson.
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