Closed to the public December 21, 2024 thru January 5, 2025.
Open to students 24hrs with key card.
Closed to the public December 21, 2024 thru January 5, 2025.
Open to students 24hrs with key card.
Autographs of 88 of the 112 U.S. Supreme Court justices were donated to Washburn University School of Law by Washburn alumnus, Dr. John Davis, Jr. on December 23, 1999.
Davis was an optometrist in Topeka who collected and mounted signatures for more than 60 years. His collection included every president and vice-president in addition to 4,000 baseball players, 2,000 basketball players, 3,000 football players, thousands of Olympic medal winners and 139 astronauts. He started his hobby at the age of 10 when he walked past the U.S. Secret Service and asked President Calvin Coolidge to sign his autograph book.
In delivering the autographs of Supreme Court Justices on behalf of her father, Mary Van Bergen, Chicago, said "This is the first time he has donated any part of his collection. He has always had good memories of Washburn where he met mother and was very active in the campus life of Washburn."
To help preserve the collection, only portions are displayed periodically in cases near the entrance of Washburn University School of Law Library. The signatures have been digitally photographed and may be viewed online by researchers. Arrangements to view the entire collection may be made by contacting the library.
