The Leon Grayson Scrapbooks

As an unmarried young man, our beloved grandfather Leon Grayson put together two scrapbooks. They are primarily populated by high school and college newspaper clippings, social invitations, calling cards, ticket stubs, military mementos, graduation and dinner programs, a few colorful cartoons, and photographs. Football, the National Guard, literary societies, and young women are continuing themes.

Leon’s Biography

Leon Harman Grayson (1906-1993) was the sixth of eight children born to longtime Chatham County (GA) superior court clerk Col. William Leon Grayson (1870-1941) and Lillian Melvin Turner Grayson (1872-1936). Leon attended Savannah High School and the University of Georgia, graduating with an LL.B in 1929. He practiced law in Savannah at the height of the Great Depression, reportedly regularly being paid in peanuts or potatoes for his legal services.

Young Leon played football, was an officer in the Mercer-Hodge and Phi Kappa Literary Societies, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and a Masonic lodge, and rose to First Lieutenant in the Georgia National Guard. In 1935 he accepted an appointment in FDR’s Justice Department in Washington, D.C., where he and his Savannah-born wife Mary Julia Bell Grayson (1909-2001) lived the rest of their lives. Leon served as an army Coastal Artillery Corps officer stateside during World War II, and as a federal judge on Okinawa for a period following the war. Leon and Mary had one daughter and eight grandchildren.

The Scrapbooks

We have two scrapbooks, one opens on its shorter side, the other on its longer. Both were designed to be expandable, the pages bound together along the spines with a long shoelace. The individual sheets have since become brittle and detached. As a result, the pages may have been rearranged over the years. In any event, the entries do not follow a strict chronological order, nor are they limited to the period as originally classified.

The Ideal Scrapbook, 1922-1923-1924 (and beyond to 1930)

11″ wide by 9″ high. Tan cover, opens to landscape view. Fifteen sheets filled front and back.

• Cover – Embossed by manufacturer as “THE IDEAL SCRAP BOOK”; Leon signed his name three times and wrote “1922-1923-1924” surrounded by a barely legible quote about standing up for friends.
• Inside Cover – Three full color cartoons of military men and dancing girls.
• Dedication page – A large cartoon of a woman playing poker; In Leon’s writing, “1923- “ “Oct. 6, 1929 I bought/merely observation” “Oct 20, 1929/That Florida Week-end” (note: the second “9” could be a “0”).
• Kappa Alpha Fraternity (KA) “IF” poem; Savannah High School (SHS) football team pledge clipping.
• Clip/photo of ’22 SHS football team; ’23 Mercer-Hodge Literary Society (MHLS) clips; Roster for ’22 traditional SHS vs. Benedictine High School Thanksgiving Day football game.
• Six MHLS clips.
• Dec. ’23 SHS football banquet program; Invitation letter to Jan. ’24 SHS athletic banquet; clip/photos of ’23 MHLS officers; photo of Jul. ’23 Georgia National Guard (NG) encampment, Ft. Bragg NC.
• Four SHS football clips including two different ’23 team photos.
• June ’24 SHS graduation program; one photo and seven clips of ’24 NG encampment at Ft. Bragg, NC, during which Leon was thrown from his horse and broke his ankle.
• Four clips from ’24 Ft. Bragg encampment.
• Panoramic photo of “Walliela Savannah Girl Scouts’ Camp” with handwritten “24”; Aug ’24 telegram to Leon at Ft. Bragg from mother Lillian; red and gold ribbon w/clip of Leon’s calling card; clip of ’27 UGA football tryouts; Apr. ’27 “Memorial Exercises” agenda at UGA chapel with “Went with Gouch” in Leon’s handwriting,
• Clips with photos of six young women, three identified; snipped Apr. ’29 UGA Registration and Athletic card; snipped invitations to two dances; clipped ad for Costa’s Ice Cream, ’26 gift card from “Julia” with notation “My Freshman year ’26” and an arrow pointing to photo of a seventh young woman.
• Feb. ’27 invitation letter to join P.E.C. w/ officers identified; Dec ’27 invitation to UGA football dinner at Athens Country Club; two UGA Junior Orators clips; photo of Col. William Grayson w/ grandchild; photo of unidentified young man (younger brother?)
• Clipped signatures of 16 women; photos of two identified young women; invitation to Jul ’29 Scabbard and Blade Military Ball.
• Invitations to three dances, Dec. ’26, Jan. ’27, May ’27; photo of five young women Lucy Cobb Institute.
• Multiple ’29 clips: Phi-Kappa Anniversarian; Jul. ’29 new lawyer w/ photos; two ’29 college football box scores.
• Clips, five photos, and season results of ’27 UGA football champs; photo and bio of Coach Kid Woodruff; photo of Chancellor Chas. Snelling; clip of Mr. Francis Dwyer calling card.
• Big “G” and Bulldog clipped from Florida vs. UGA football game program in Savannah, Nov. ’28, UGA ’25 football staff, captains, and results; Lyrics to ‘Bulldog,” “Locomotive,” “Glory,” “Alma Mater,’ and “Hail to Georgia” pep songs; photo of Robert l. Patterson.
• Four snipped University of Georgia (UGA) Registration Card/Athletic Tickets (Sep. ’26, Jan. ’27, Jan. ’28, Apr. ’28); clip of Mar ’27 UGA Red and Black football game; gold ribbon from Mar ’29 “Southern Students Conference on International Relations” at UGA; two photos of ’29 NG encampment at Camp McClellan AL; photos of ’26 KA Football team and ring.
• Four ’29 UGA clips: Phi Kappa literary society; sports teams review; swim team (Leon was manager); commencement dance.
• Nov ’28 and May ’29 Scabbard and Blade invitations w/ attached rifle accuracy score sheets; clipped family signatures; snipped photo of young man; clipped photo of KA Gamma Chapter w/ participants identified; Instructions for debate judges at Martin Institute, Jefferson GA.
• Clipped photo of horse jockeys.
• Clipped signatures of nine men; Jun ’29 UGA Commencement Program.
• Clipped family signatures; two Savannah wedding invitations, two dance invitations (years vary); Camp McClellan and KA logos.
• Clips of Oct. ’29 Sanford Stadium dedication preparations; news photo of burning ship; photo of woman id’d as “Lib” Banks; glamour photo of actress Gloria Swanson; Wedding invitation with written caption “had a big time.”
• Clips of five posed UGA football players; team photo of UGA football squad (the ’26 Freshman team?) with an arrow pointing to “My Self”; photo of Harry E. Talmadge; Rosters of KA, Demosthenian, Phi Kappa, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
• Invitations to four dances ca. ’26; clips of signatures and calling cards; 1926-27 UGA Academic calendar and “Facts about Athens”; photo of Steadman Sanford.
• Three ’29 football box scores; ticket stub for Oct. ’29 UGA vs. Florida game in Jacksonville; news clip and photo of Oct. ’29 Sanford Stadium inaugural game w/ handwritten “X, where I was body and spirit”; two small photos of men id’d as “Hodgson” and “Candler.”
• Clip of Allen W. Post, KA Rhodes scholar; clip/photo of UGA Law students moot court, snipped Mrs. W.L. Grayson calling card; Dance invitation; Sep. ’28 UGA Registration Card and Athletic Ticket.
• Nine signed ’29 Christmas cards, wedding, and dance invitations.
• Clip/photo of May Day celebration at Brenau College, Gainesville GA; three photos of Leon and pals aboard a ship captioned “April 11, 1930 on O.S.S. Chattanooga coming back from New York.”; Dec. ’29 Chatham superior court acquittal certificate for Ulie Greathart, “Assault with intent to murder,” Leon Grayson, Esq.
• Clips/photos for May ’30 Fraternal Order of Eagles Mothers’ day Speech in Savannah
• April ’29 UGA Alumni Record cover and back page, inner pages missing.

IDEAL No. 21, 1929-1932

8″ wide by 11″ high. Black cover, opens to portrait view. Eleven sheets mostly filled front and back, about fifteen unused sheets. Inside back cover identifies scrapbook design as “The IDEAL No. 21. Made by the J.L. Hanson Co. Chicago.”

• Inside cover – “Leon Harman Grayson Savannah, Georgia”
• Five snipped Christmas cards, Apr. ’30 wedding invitation.
• Fall ’29 Leon Grayson lawyer and NG promotion clips.
• Four undated Christmas cards
• Four Dec. ’30 dance invitations; clip of Leon’s May ’30 Mother’s Day speech.
• Clips of Nov. ’30 Chatham county election results.
• Dec. ’30 invite to join Oglethorpe Club; wedding invite; Iota Alpha Iota dance invite.
• Apr. ’30 Savannah UGA Club dinner invite; Nov. ’30 wedding invite; Christmas cards.
• Mar. ’31 Hibernian Society dinner program and table reservation.
• Jan ’32 First Lieutenant promotion letter.
• Jan ’32 U.S. Senate congrats on promotion letter.
• Christmas cards ’31.
• Two Jan. ’32 promotion letters.
• Two clips on Lt. promotion w. photo.
• Three Dec. ’31 dance invites.
• Oct. ’31 !st Lt. exam scope.
• Three Dec. ’31 dance invites.
• Large undated Christmas card.
• Five Dec. ’31 dance invites
• Two ’30 Christmas cards,; one Dec ’30 birthday letter from NG division commander
• Five Dec. ’31 dance invites; Oct. ’31 wedding invite; snip of ad for Grove Park Inn, Asheville NC.
• Dec. ’31 Oglethorpe Club New Year’s Eve dance Invite; Oct. ’30 UGA vs. UNC ticket stub (Homecoming); Christmas card; photo of unidentified young woman.
• Four Dec. ’31 Christmas cards.
• May ’32 NG letter of progress.