Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The personal papers of Daniel H. McCullough (1898-1976) were donated to the Center for Archival Collections by his law partner, Richard Secor on August 14, 1991, with an addition transferred on September 24, 1991. The collection contains scrapbooks, photographs and publications from 1890 to 1974, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1940 to 1970.

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection and duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The collection was processed and the finding aid prepared in June 1996, by Paul Buckingham, archival assistant.

Biographical Sketch

Born on March 17, 1898, Daniel H. McCullough was the son of Daniel Harvey McCullough and Edlen Scanlen. He attended school at St. Johns (now a private high school), there completing high school, college and law school courses. He served in Troop D of the 1st Ohio Cavalry, 37th Division, American Expeditiary Force, in England, France and Belgium during World War I. He remained an avid horseman and an expert polo player throughout his life. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1922. As a lawyer, he was feisty and quick-minded and his temper nearly saw him disbarred. Fortunately for McCullough, a local lawyer, John McMahon, became a mentor and provided him with a sense of professionalism and discipline. The reborn McCullough became one of Toledo's most masterful defense lawyers.

McCullough built his practice defending some of the seamier elements of Toledo such as bootleggers and gamblers. This was especially true in the 1930s and the 1940s. In the 1950s and beyond, McCullough became heavily involved in the civil liberties movement championing it in speeches, articles and in the courtroom.

McCullough developed a national reputation as an opponent of McCarthyism and a proponent and defender of civil liberties. In 1961-1962, he served as the President of the National Association of Criminal Lawyers and was instrumental in passage of the Bail Bond Act of 1966.

Always a colorful character, his exploits earned him various nicknames; "Silver Dollar Man" and "One Punch Dan" among them. He died on August 20, 1976 of cancer.

Further information on his life can be found in the biographical file or gleaned from the scrapbooks located in the collection.

Scope and Content

The McCullough Papers are the personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks and publications of prominent Toledo defense lawyer, Dan McCullough (1898-1976). Thirty-seven scrapbooks are the main series of this collection. They contain newsclippings and memorabilia dating from 1932 to 1974 covering cases handled by McCullough as well as his involvement in Toledo's high society. His cases included numerous gambling and pinball cases in the 1930s and 1940s and civil liberty/due process cases in the 1950s and 1960s. One of his most interesting and infamous cases was the defense of Rose La Rose, owner of a well-known Toledo burlesque showplace. The scrapbooks also detail McCullough's participation in social events in Toledo; theater, opera and especially polo.

Two other series form an important part of the collection. The first is an extensive series of photographs. Unfortunately, most are not identified nor dated and thus grouped only by subject. The other series is a collection of McCullough's speeches and articles responding to the civil liberties movement of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, of which he was a tireless and prominent supporter.

The collection does not include any complete case files and is frustratingly silent on the extent of his work in the civil liberties movement. It will, however, serve as an excellent starting point for researchers investigating the Toledo law community and national and local legal issues during the time period 1930 to 1970, and for those working specifically on the life of Dan McCullough.

Other known repositories of McCullough materials include the John B. McMahon Memorial Library at the University of Toledo (a memorial McCullough established in his mentor's name) and the special collections at St. John's High School. He regularly contributed books to both institutions.

Series Description

BIOGRAPHICAL

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
One folder
No arrangement, scattered dates
Contains newsclippings, official records and miscellaneous information on the life of Dan McCullough.

GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL
One folder
No arrangement
Family tree information compiled by Dan McCullough.

SCRAPBOOKS AND SCRAPBOOK MATERIAL

SCRAPBOOKS-PERSONAL
26 volumes, numbered
1932-1964
Arranged chronologically
Collections of newsclippings and memorabilia involving McCullough's cases and his participation in Toledo society. Numbered 1-14, 16, 17, 18 1/2, 21-28, 32.

SCRAPBOOKS-PERSONAL
11 volumes, unnumbered
1946-1974
Arranged chronologically
Collections of newsclippings and memorabilia involving McCullough's cases and his participation in Toledo society.

PUBLICATIONS

PUBLICATIONS
Two folders
1899, 1961
Arranged alphabetically
McCullough's personal copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and a masters thesis.

PERSONAL SPEECHES/ARTICLES
Nine folders
1954-1975
Arranged alphabetically
Various speeches and law articles concerning civil liberties.

AUDIO/VISUAL

PHOTOGRAPHS
32 folders/scrapbooks
1890-1970s
Partially arranged chronologically and by subject
Photographs of McCullough, family and friends. Includes photographs from WWI and postcards.

TAPE RECORDINGS-CITY COUNCIL
Four tapes
March 18, 1968
Tapes in various formats of McCullough's defense of Rose La Rose before Toledo City Council.

TAPE RECORDINGS-CRIMINAL INSANITY INSTITUTE
One tape, reel to reel
April 1962
Tape of McCullough's speech at the Institute.

ARTIFACT

PLAQUE
1963
Opinion page of The Blade concerning McCullough-Edison "war".

Inventory

Box 1

Folders

1. Biographical Material
2. Genealogical Material

Box 2

1. #1 Todak Case, Emmert Fraud Case, Bonus March, 1932-1933
2. #2 Vacchiano/Bruno Murder Cases, Kennedy Murder Trial, 1933-1934
3. Folder of evidence from Vacchiano Trial, 1933
4. #3 "Butch" the Dog Trial, Slot Machine Wars, Aronoff/Gambling, 1934-1936
5. #4 Aronoff/Gambling, Dog Racing, 1936-1937
6. #5 Bolinger Bribery Trial, Gambling, 1937-1939
7. #6 Gambling, 1939-1941
8. #7 Gambling, Obituaries of Prominent Toledoans, 1941-1942

Box 3

1. #8 Gambling, Obituaries of Prominent Toledoans, 1943-1946
2. #9 Aronoff/Gambling, 1944-1945
3. #10 Steeplechase, Horse Shows, 1945-1946
4. #11 Music Publisher Raid, Urbaytis Murder, 1946-1947
5. #12 Toledo (from Saturday Evening Post), Gambling, 1948
6. #13 Obituaries of Prominent Toledoans, Remington Murder Case, Gambling, Hit-Skip Case, 1948-1950

Box 4

1. #14 Verderber Case, Air Pollution, Stranahan Paternity Suit, Contraceptives Case, 1951-1954
2. #16 Gambling, Juke Box "Racket", Anti-Pinball Machine Movement, 1949-1956
3. #17 Civil Liberties,Schreiber Trial, 1954-1957
4. #18 1/2 Pinball Ban, 1956-1959
5. #21 Local Social Events, Stratford Festival, 1958
6. #22 Social Events (Dodges, Bentleys, Stranahans), Foreign Travel, 1958-1959

Box 5

1. #23 Springbrook Polo Club, Social Events, Stratford, 1959
2. #24 Social Events, 1959-1960
3. #25 Social Events, Polo, 1960
4. #26 Social Events, Kennedy Inaugural, 1960-1961

Box 6

1. #27 Social Events, Polo, 1961
2. #28 Social Events, Polo, 1961-1962
3. #32 Social Events, 1964

Box 7

1. Polo, Horse Shows, Fox Hunts, 1946-1952
2. Polo, 1949-1958
3. Polo, 1950-1960
4. Polo, 1951, 1958-1961

Box 8

1. Canterbury Pilgrimage from Dorset Farm, 1959
2. Court Cases, Deportation of Findlay Professor, Findlay College Student Court Case, "Due Process", Dispute with Toledo Edison, Driscoll-Blade Libel Suit, 1959-1967

Box 9

1. Social Events, Polo, 1960-1962 (1991)
2. Bail Bond Conference, 1964-1965
3. "Torture" Case, Abortion Case, Drug Cases, 1967-1968
4. Rose La Rose Cases, 1968-1972
5. Ottawa County Sheriff Perjury Trial, Drug Cases, Stranahan Divorce, 1970-1974

Box 10

Folders

1. Bail Bond Conference (c.2), 1964-1965

1. The Killits-Cochran Controversy (masters thesis), Jena Kohl, University of Toledo, 1961
2. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (personal copy--contains list of places stationed during WWI), 1899
   

1. "Balancing the Rights of the Accused and the Public In Constitutional Probity," reprint from ABA Journal, Volume 54, March 1968
2. "The Press and the First Amendment", May 1954
3. "Right of Discovery in Criminal Cases, or the Lack Thereof Under Ohio Law," reprint from Ohio Opinions, July 29, 1968
4. "Right-to-work Amendment", October 1958
5. "The Sunset of the Criminal Lawyer," ABA Journal, Volume 50, March 1964
6. "Trial by Newspaper-Free Press and Fair Trial," South Dakota Law Review, Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 1967
7. "Trial by Newspaper-Free Press and Fair Trial, (Part Two)", South Dakota Law Review, Volume 12, Number 2, Spring 1967
8. "Trial Techniques in the Defence of a Criminal Prosecution", 1962
9. "Why the Exclusionary Rule Should be Retained," reprint from Ohio Bar, Volume 48, Number 24, June 16, 1975
   

1. Family, 1890-1920s
2. Family, 1930s-1960s
3. Family/Friends, 1970s
4. Dan with Family, 1940s
5. Family Portraits
6. Family-Partial photo album
7. Family-Dan, mother and brother (?)
8. Family-Dan and brother (?)
9. Family-WWII Photographs (?)
10. Funeral
11. Photo Scrapbook with other miscellaneous items
12. Dan's 85 feet dive
13. Unidentified photographs
14. Friends/Snapshots of Dan (2 folders)
15. Social Functions
16. Unidentified friends
17. First Communion (oversized-located in Box 7), 1911/1935

Box 11

Folders

1. Dan in office
2. Office photographs
3. Dan at work
4. Dan and cars
5. Polo and horse riding
6. Places
7. Dan and Lyndon B. Johnson
8. Group photo-School?
9. WWI photographs
10. Small photo scrapbook-WWI
11. Post cards and Christmas cards

Box 12

1. McCullough before City Council, re: Rose La Rose (2 cassette tapes and 2 reel-to-reel tapes-1/4"), March 18, 1968
2. McCullough-Criminal Insanity Institute (1 reel-to-reel tape -1/4"), April 1962
3. Plaque: Opinion Page of The Blade re: McCullough and Edison War

Manuscripts by Subject | Political Collections | Miscellaneous Collections