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                              William Gobitas

            A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

                       Prepared by Margaret McAleer

                                    1997

                            Manuscript Division
                            Library of Congress

                              Washington, D.C.

                Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
                         Manuscript Division, 2001

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Table of Contents for William Gobitas
Collection Summary
Selected Search Terms

   * Names:
   * Subjects:
   * Occupations:

Administrative Information

   * Provenance:
   * Copyright Status:
   * Processing History:
   * Preferred Citation:

Scope and Content Note
Container List
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Collection Summary

Creator: Gobitas, William, 1925-1989
Title: Papers of William Gobitas 1935-1989 (bulk 1935-1940)
Size: 100 items; 1 container; 0.4 linear feet
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Abstract: Insurance executive and piano tuner. Correspondence, notes, court
documents, newspaper clippings, printed material, ephemera, and photographs
relating to freedom of speech and legal cases involving Jehovah's
Witnesses. Documents the U.S. Supreme Court case of Minersville v. Gobitis
(sic) concerning the refusal of Gobitas and his sister Lillian (Gobitas)
Klose to salute the American flag in their school in Minersville, Pa., in
1935.

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Klose, Lillian
Minersville (Pa.). Board of School Directors
United States. Supreme Court

Subjects:

Flags--United States
Freedom of religion
Freedom of speech
Jehovah's Witnesses--Legal status, laws, etc.

Occupations:

Insurance executives
Piano technicians

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of William H. Gobitas (1925-1989), insurance executive, piano
tuner, and defendant in United States Supreme Court case, were given to the
Library of Congress by the estate of William Gobitas in 1989 via his
sister, Lillian Gobitas Klose, and Alan Nurmi of the United States
Information Agency.

Copyright Status:

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of William Gobitas is
governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Processing History:

A description of the Gobitas Papers appears in Library of Congress
Information Bulletin, 48 (18 September 1989), pp. 321-22.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: container number, William Gobitas Papers, Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of William H. Gobitas span the years 1935-1989, with the bulk of
the material dating from 1935 to 1940. The collection consists of court
documents, photographs, correspondence, notes, ephemera, newspaper
clippings, and other printed matter pertaining to freedom of speech and
legal cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses. The papers document in
particular the United States Supreme Court case, Minersville v. Gobitis
(sic), concerning the refusal of ten-year-old Billy Gobitas and his
twelve-year-old sister, Lillian, to salute the American flag in their
school in Minersville, Pennsylvania, in 1935. The collection includes
letters written by Gobitas and his sister to school officials explaining
the religious basis for their refusal, Walter Gobitas's notes from the
school board meeting at which his children were expelled, and photographs
of the Gobitas children around 1935.

Container List

 Box    Contents
 BOX 1  Jehovah's Witnesses
                 Background material, 1959, 1982
                 (2 folders)
                 Published accounts of treatment and harassment
                        Consolation, 1940
                        Miscellaneous, 1983-1989
                        National Geographic, 1965-1975
                 United States Marine Corps, retraction of statement
                 linking the church to communism, 1940
        Legal cases
                 Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940-1957
                 Leoles, Dorothy, 1936
                 Lovell v. City of Griffin, 1936-1938
                 Minersville v. Gobitis (sic), 1935-1939, n.d.
                 Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 1940-1943, 1986
                 West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 1943
        Photographs, ca. 1935-1940, 1975