Full Finding Aid

Title:	Guide to the Papers of Conrad E. Snow, 1905 - 1948
Call Number:	Manuscript MS-942
Collection Dates:	1905 - 1948
Size of Collection:	1 box (1.5 linear ft.)
Abstract:	The Papers of Conrad E. Snow (DC 1912) document Snow's scholastic and professional career, including his time at Dartmouth, at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and at Harvard Law. He served as an artillery captain in WWI, and later established a law practice in New Hampshire, eventually serving in the state legislature and in the U.S. State Department. The material consist of several journals, logbooks, drawings, sketches, essays, and poetry, newspaper clippings, and personal correspondence, both handwritten and typed.
Access to Collection:	Collection open for research.

Use & Access

The materials represented in this guide may be accessed through the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College. The Rauner Library is located in Webster Hall. The materials must be used on-site and may not leave Rauner Library.

The Rauner Special Collections Library is open to the public and in most cases no appointment is necessary. The exception is in the case of materials stored off site for which there may be a delay in retrieval. Please consult the Access to Collection statement below or contact Rauner Reference.

• Rauner Library Hours

• Rauner Library Patron Information

Access to Collection

Collection open for research.

Publication & Use

These materials may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Introduction to the Collection

The Papers of Conrad E. Snow consists of several journals; membership cards; logbooks; a report entitled "Munitions for the Army;" mechanical drawings, diagrams, sketches, essays, and poetry; newspaper clippings; a court briefing (Ames Competition, Harvard Law School, 1916); examination schedules and grades; certificates; pamphlets; as well as a lease. Also includes personal correspondences, both handwritten and typed. The papers document the scholastic and professional career of Conrad E. Snow.

Of note: three journals detailing Snow's time spent in Washington D.C. during WWII serving under the Chief Signal Officer, the Under Secretary of War, and in the state department (1941-1946). Also, a correspondence with fellow Dartmouth graduate and WWI casualty, Howard "Rainy" Buchard Lines (DC Class of 1912), dating November 2, 1916.

Biography

Conrad E. Snow was born in Haverhill, NH, on August 6, 1889. He received degrees from both Dartmouth College in 1912 and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, in 1915 and 1929. He also attended Harvard University Law School where he edited the Harvard Law Review, graduating in 1917. Upon graduating from Harvard Law, Snow went on to serve in World War I as an artillery captain in France. In 1919, he established his law practice in Rochester, NH, and would eventually go on to serve two years in the New Hampshire state legislature. Snow also held the position of secretary-treasurer of the state bar association from 1932-1942 and headed the New Hampshire state council of Boy Scouts from 1934-1937. In 1940, he was summoned to Washington D.C. as the director of the legal division of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer and served as a brigadier general during World War II. In 1945, he was assigned to the staff of the Under Secretary of War and in 1946, joined the State Department as an assistant legal advisor. He would go on to serve as chairman of the State Department's Loyalty Security Board from its inception to its disestablishment, from 1947 to 1956 respectively. As head of this board during the early 1950's and height of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's charges of "Communist infiltration" in the State Department, Snow came forward and vigorously defended both the department and the actions of the review board. In 1950, Snow served on a U.S. clemency board for German war criminals and as a chairman of a similar board for Japanese war criminals. He was, furthermore, sent, in 1951, to London to negotiate the status of forces agreement for American troops in other countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Association. Upon leaving the State Department in 1956, Snow became counsel to a law firm in Lasonia, NH, and served in the New Hampshire Legislature from 1959 to 1960. He died on December 22, 1975, in Gilmanton Iron Works, NH.

Box & Folder List