Vance N. Kirby Papers

The Papers of Vance N. Kirby fill 6 archival boxes and span the years 1937 to 1975. Relatively little is included from his time as professor at the Northwestern University Law School (1957-1980). The bulk of the papers relate to Kirby's work for the Tax Division of the United States Department of the Treasury, as attorney in the office of Tax Legislative Counsel (1942-1947) and as Counsel (1948-1953). The material in this collection illuminates the evolution of the U.S. tax code and tax policy for the period 1942 to 1953.

Kirby's Treasury Department files contain drafts of the U.S. tax code, statutes, and legislation. These take the form of memos (titled "confidential mimeographs"), reports, speeches, articles and related correspondence with fellow employees in the Tax Division. Some of the government memos pre-date Kirby's tenure at the Treasury Department.

The folders in this series are arranged in alphabetical order by subject. The documents within each folder are arranged chronologically with the exception of Box 4 folder number 1. Documents within this folder were previously arranged in groups denoted by a handwritten number preceded by a "$tH" in the upper right corner. These "$tH" numbers correspond roughly to tax code section numbers.

In addition to materials generated by Kirby related specifically to tax code, the series includes reprints of his articles 1946-75, text of speeches concerning tax law changes (with related travel and arrangements correspondence from 1951), and files relating to tax provisions for WWII war loss recovery (1943-1946).

Also included are Kirby's Harvard Law School class notes, bound in nine volumes. These are notably well organized, obviously redrafted and comprised of handwritten passages with occasional tipped-in typewritten portions.