Lamartine Griffin Hardman Papers, Series IV: Legislative

Descriptive Summary
Title: Lamartine Griffin Hardman Papers, Series IV: Legislative
Creator: Hardman, Lamartine Griffin, 1856-1937
Inclusive Dates: 1898, 1902-1910
Language(s): English
Extent: 4 box(es) (1.75 linear feet)
Collection Number: RBRL137LGH_IV
Repository: Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Abstract: Hardman was very active during his tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives and the State Senate. Co-authoring Georgia's Prohibition bill and sponsoring the Conner Act, which established the Georgia College of Agriculture, are among as his primary accomplishments. However, Hardman also introduced or sponsored other important legislative measures. He sponsored legislation creating the State Board of Health, petitioned Congress to authorize a federal commission to conduct a drainage survey of Georgia farmlands, and introduced a bill making rudimentary civic and agricultural education mandatory in Georgia public schools. The files in this series contain correspondence relating to these and other legislative matters from Hardman's terms in the House (1902-1906; 1909-1910) and State Senate (1907-1908). Papers from his last term in the House are not included. The series is comprised of four subseries: correspondence, bills, speeches, and general information. Arrangement is chronological.

---

Collection Description

Biographical Note

Dr. Lamartine Griffin Hardman was born April 14, 1856 in Harmony Grove, GA (now Commerce, GA). His father was both a physician and a minister, and Hardman followed in his father's footsteps by attending medical school at the Georgia Medical College in Augusta. He received further medical training at Bellevue Hospital in New York and also conducted post-graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania Polyclinic Hospital, and the Guy Hospital in London. In 1899, Hardman and his brother William established the Hardman Sanatorium in Harmony Grove.

Hardman achieved nationwide fame for his pursuit of the latest advances in medical science, especially his experiments in the new field of anesthesiology. Hardman was also a proponent of phrenology, the practice of measuring cranial features to predict mental traits. Phrenology was used throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to provide pseudoscientific defenses of white supremacy.

Aside from medicine, Hardman also had an interest in agriculture and manufacturing. He established the Harmony Grove Cotton Mill in 1893 and began investing in farmland, eventually becoming one of the largest farmers in Georgia by 1900. He used scientific processes to develop new agricultural practices, which he shared with other farmers around Commerce. Hardman was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1902 as a representative from Jackson County. He served in the House of Representatives until 1907, when he was elected to the State Senate. In 1909 he returned to the Georgia House for a final term. During his time in the General Assembly, Hardman introduced bills to support agricultural education in public schools and establish the State Board of Health. Drawing on his upbringing as the son of a Baptist minister, Hardman was also an author of Georgia's 1907 prohibition law.

Hardman launched two unsuccessful campaigns for governor—in 1914 and 1916—before finally being elected in 1926. In 1928 he defeated E. D. Rivers for re-election. As governor, Hardman attempted to apply "scientific" processes to the administration of the state, which included establishing the Allen Commission on Simplification and Coordination to reorganize the state's government. Hardman proposed initiating a nutritional study of north Georgia to address reported shortcomings in the average diet. However, he also applied what he believed were scientific processes to capital punishment, using phrenology and a belief that fingerprints could be used to predict mental ability and criminality to determine which condemned prisoners would be spared from the electric chair.

Hardman left the governor's office in 1933. He returned to Commerce, where he lived with his wife Emma Wiley Griffin until his death on February 18, 1937.

Scope and Content

Hardman was very active during his tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives and the State Senate. Co-authoring Georgia's Prohibition bill and sponsoring the Conner Act, which established the Georgia College of Agriculture, are among as his primary accomplishments. However, Hardman also introduced or sponsored other important legislative measures. He sponsored legislation creating the State Board of Health, petitioned Congress to authorize a federal commission to conduct a drainage survey of Georgia farmlands, and introduced a bill making rudimentary civic and agricultural education mandatory in Georgia public schools. The files in this series contain correspondence relating to these and other legislative matters from Hardman's terms in the House (1902-1906; 1909-1910) and State Senate (1907-1908). Papers from his last term in the House are not included.

Organization and Arrangement

The series is comprised of four subseries: correspondence, bills, speeches and general information. Arrangement is chronological.

---

Administrative Information

User Restrictions

Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.

Preferred Citation

Lamartine Griffin Hardman Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Processing Note

During the arrangement and description process, archivists noted that many of the manuscripts were very fragile and in need of preservation work. After Hardman's death in 1937 his papers were moved to Harmony Grove Mills for storage. When the Hardman family sold the mill in 1990 the papers were transferred to the basement of the First Commerce Bank in Commerce, GA. Shortly after the papers arrived at the Russell Library, archivists observed that the collection had suffered serious deterioration from poor paper quality. Additionally, many of the pulp paper carbons of Hardman's correspondence had become very brittle and were literally breaking into pieces. The more these originals were handled, the more fragile they became. These papers required transfer to an additional format to ensure the information would be available for current and future researchers. After discussions with the Hardman family in 1997, Russell Library archivists proposed a project to microfilm the collection.

Thanks to a generous grant through the Harmony Grove Foundation, the Hardman Preservation Microfilming Project began in January 1998. The library hired a microfilm preservation specialist to prepare the collection for filming and to supervise the filming project, which was conducted in cooperation with Computer Hardware, Imaging and Preservation Services (CHIPS) at the University of Georgia Libraries. Items in each folder of the collection were re-arranged alphabetically or chronologically (depending on the nature of the material), a task that took well over a year to complete. Items not selected for filming routinely included duplicates, household bills and receipts, cancelled checks, invitations, greeting cards, photographs, advertisements and promotional pamphlets, and non-print memorabilia. Material to be filmed was then counted, programmed onto individual reels, targeted and microfilmed according to Research Libraries Group (RLG) guidelines--a process that ultimately produced 153 reels of microfilm, or roughly one reel per linear foot of manuscript material. Reels for research use are housed at the Russell Library. Master negatives are stored at the Georgia Department of Archives and History in Atlanta; copy negatives are housed at the University of Georgia Libraries. A microfilm reel finding aid, keyed to the collection finding aid, is available to assist researchers.

Access Restrictions

Use of microfilm recommended.

Copyright Information

Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Finding Aid Publication

Finding aid prepared on: 2000.

---

Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

Related Collections in this Repository

Hoke Smith Papers

Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection

Dudley M. Hughes Papers

Richard B. Russell, Sr. Papers

Hugh Peterson, Sr. Papers

Related Collections in Other Repositories

Ivan Allen, Sr. Papers, Atlanta History Center

---

Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

IV. Legislative, 1898, 1902-1910
4 box(es)
(1.75 linear feet)
		Hardman was very active during his tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives and the State Senate. Co-authoring Georgia's Prohibition bill and sponsoring the Conner Act, which established the Georgia College of Agriculture, are among as his primary accomplishments. However, Hardman also introduced or sponsored other important legislative measures. He sponsored legislation creating the State Board of Health, petitioned Congress to authorize a federal commission to conduct a drainage survey of Georgia farmlands, and introduced a bill making rudimentary civic and agricultural education mandatory in Georgia public schools. The files in this series contain correspondence relating to these and other legislative matters from Hardman's terms in the House (1902-1906; 1909-1910) and State Senate (1907-1908). Papers from his last term in the House are not included. The series is comprised of four subseries: correspondence, bills, speeches and general information. Arrangement is chronological.
	A. Correspondence
box	folder
Request box
1	1-2		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85], 1902
1	3		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85], 1903
1	4		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85], 1904
1	5		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85], 1905
1	6-8		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85], 1906
box	folder
Request box
2	1-2		Correspondence [microfilm reel #85-86], 1906-1907
2	3		Correspondence [microfilm reel #86], 1907
2	4		Correspondence [microfilm reel #86], 1908
	B. Bills , 1901-1908
box	folder
Request box
3	1		Prohibit Contracts on Cotton Futures [microfilm reel #86]
3	2		Regulate Trade in Cornmeal [microfilm reel #86]
3	3		Increase sale and shipment of cotton [microfilm reel #86]
3	4		Prevent mislabeling of food [microfilm reel #86]
3	5		Agricultural Senate Bill 44 [microfilm reel #86]
3	6		Establish schools of agriculture and mechanical arts [microfilm reel #86]
3	7		Georgia Agriculture College facts [microfilm reel #86]
3	8		High School instruction in agriculture [microfilm reel #86]
3	9		Comptroller General's office [microfilm reel #86]
3	10		Prescribed salaries for solicitor-generals [microfilm reel #86]
3	11		Drainage bill [microfilm reel #86], 1905
3	12		Drainage bill [microfilm reel #86], 1906
3	13		Prohibition bill [microfilm reel #86]
3	14		Stock law [microfilm reel #86], 1907
3	15		Prohibition issue [microfilm reel #86], 1908
3	16		Alcohol and medical view, publications [microfilm reel #86], 1907
3	17		Create State Board of Health [microfilm reel #86]
3	18		Georgia Sanitorium for incipient tuberculosis [microfilm reel #86]
3	19		Pension bill [microfilm reel #86], 1904
3	20		Census of Confederate soldiers and widows [microfilm reel #86]
3	21		Requiring legislative counsel to file with Secretary of State [microfilm reel #86]
3	22		Defining expert witness and providing compensation [microfilm reel #86]
3	23		Railroad Commission charters [microfilm reel #86]
3	24		Railroad safety equipment [microfilm reel #86]
3	25		Electric Railroad Companies may sell heat, light or power [microfilm reel #86]
3	26		State school funds for Harmony Grove [microfilm reel #86]
3	27		To create in the Treasury Department a bank bureau [microfilm reel #86]
3	28		A Commission for better development of people in relation to the races [microfilm reel #86]
3	29		Eminent domain - opposition [microfilm reel #86]
3	30		Future employment of male convicts. House Bill 346 [microfilm reel #86]
3	31		Juvenile Courts amendment [microfilm reel #86]
3	32		Senate Bill 107 Introduced by Hardman and Deen. Criticisms Juvenile Courts [microfilm reel #86]
3	33		Construction and maintenance of macadamized roads [microfilm reel #86]
3	34		Duties of Superintendent of Roads and Bridges [microfilm reel #86]
3	35		Act to regulate the practice of professional nursing [microfilm reel #86]
3	36		Hunting bill [microfilm reel #86]
3	37		Bills/acts [microfilm reel #86]
3	38		Bill sections [microfilm reel #86]
3	39		Board of Commissioners of Jackson County: jurisdiction [microfilm reel #86]
3	40		To create the office of Commissioner of Roads, Drainage, and Irrigation [microfilm reel #86]
3	41		School Commissioner shall be ex-officio secretary of Board of Education [microfilm reel #86]
3	42		Abolish the Convict Lease System [microfilm reel #86]
3	43		Future employment of convicts on public roads. Senate Bill 199 and substitutes [microfilm reel #86]
3	44		[Act to provide for the registration of deaths] [not filmed]
	C. Speeches
box	folder
Request box
4	1		Speeches [microfilm reel #86], 1902-1903
4	2		Agriculture in Public Schools [microfilm reel #86], 1905
4	3		Speeches (handwritten) [microfilm reel #86]
	D. General information
box	folder
Request box
4	4		Georgia Fish laws [microfilm reel #86], 1898
4	5		List of state heroes [microfilm reel #86], circa 1902
4	6		List of senators (state of Georgia) [microfilm reel #86]
4	7		Members - elect, House of Representatives [microfilm reel #86], 1905-1906
4	8		Republican form of government [microfilm reel #86]
4	9		Bonds of the state of Georgia [microfilm reel #86]
4	10		Millen's claim for new county [microfilm reel #86]
4	11		Stephens County [microfilm reel #86], 1906
4	12		Legislative information [microfilm reel #86], 1907