West Virginia University, Justitia Law Students Wives' Club Records
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 5281
The Justitia Law Students Wives' Club Records consists of material related to the Justitia Law Students Wives' Club's activities and upkeep. The collection was compiled by the Justitia Law Students Wives' Club and formats include correspondence, newsletters, photographs, invitations, newspaper clippings, realia, scrapbooks, cookbooks, financial documents, and organizational records.
The records focus on the social activities of the club's members in support of their spouses in law school as well as general maintenance of the club. Subjects covered include the social lives of married women, university organizations, and the WVU College of Law, particularly as it pertains to the opening of the new College of Law on the WVU Evansdale campus in 1974. It also provides insights into the role of women, women's expectations in society, and the social and cultural opportunities available to women and their families.
The records are divided into seven series,: The 1950s, The 1960s, The 1970s, The 1980s, Financial Records, Duplicates, and Scrapbooks.
Series 1. The 1950s: This series contains three photographs of the founders and earliest members of Justitia.
Series 2. The 1960s: This series contains photographs, newspaper articles, newsletters, invitations, organizational records, meeting agendas, and officer’s reports.
Series 3. The 1970s: This series contains newspaper articles, photographs, invitations, cookbooks and other publications, organizational records, including meeting agendas, officer’s reports and fundraisers held by members of Justitia.
Series 4. The 1980s: This series contains newsletters, photographs, publications and stationery, and organizational records, including meeting agendas, and officer’s reports, programs and fundraisers held by members of Justitia.
Series 5. Financial Records: This series includes financial records from the 1970s and 1980s.
Series 6. Duplicates: This series contains duplicate records, forms and other documents used by Justitia.
Series 7. Scrapbooks: This series contains four scrapbooks documenting the activities of Justitia over three decades, the 1960s–1980s.
No special access restriction applies.
“Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website
Justitia was founded by law student wives June Santee and Pat Simonton on April 11, 1957. The Justitia organization brought the wives of a largely male student population together to support their husbands throughout their three years of study at West Virginia University College of Law. The founders chose the pink carnation and the colors pink and white to represent their organizaion.
Justitia, the Roman goddess of Justice, was considered to be the embodiment of moral justice in Roman mythology, providing justification for the organization's name.
Through all four decades of its existence the mission of Justitia, also known as the Law Students Wives' Club, remained the same:
“The purpose of Justitia shall be to bring about a spirit of cooperation and friendship among its members, to extend to those members opportunities for acquainting themselves with various aspects of the law profession, and to promote the interests of the West Virginia University College of Law.”
Throughout the following three decades after its founding - the 60s, 70s, and early 80s - Justitia members held meetings and published Morgantown guides for incoming students and their wives. They raised money through cookbook sales, bake sales and stationery sales and directed those funds toward receptions, dinners, dances, children’s parties, hooding ceremonies, and other means of supporting their husbands and law students at the WVU College of Law.
While Justitia primarily remained a group of law student wives, the 1964–1965 Justitia booklet provides the earliest mention of female law students’ eligibility in the club. Although the first female student, Alice Westbrook Morrison, graduted from WVU law in 1895, the female student body remained small before significant growth was achieved in the 1960s. Despite this inclusion, the club continued to be referred to as the Law Students Wives' Club. Membership lists from the 60s and 70s record members as “Mrs. John Smith,” for example, with the wife’s given name following in parentheses. This may suggest that, given the familial orientation of the club, single female law students did not typically pursue Justitia membership. Later membership listings are on a first name basis, making it equally difficult to determine the ratio of law student wives to single or married female law student membership.
The club's first constitution was recorded in 1964-1965. During the 1970s Justitia joined the larger National Law Wives Organization. The last records available for Justitia are for the years 1982-1983. There is no documentation to mark the club’s closure.
2.3 Linear Feet (3 document cases, 5 in. each; 3 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 4 in. each.)
English
Papers and other materials of Justitia, the Law Students Wives’ Club (1952 – 1983) of West Virginia University College of Law. Founded by June Santee and Pat Simonton in 1957, Justitia was a women’s organization designed to offer a community of support to law student wives, to create an opportunity to socialize, and support their husbands and the WVU College of Law through meetings, publications, fundraisers and activities.
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Donation of West Virginia University College of Law Library, 2021-2023. This material was originally donated to the WVU College of Law Library prior to being transferred to the WVRHC.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository