Richard H. Rich papers

The Richard H. Rich papers contain general correspondence, subject files, materials created by and about Rich's, Inc., family financial and legal papers, writings and printed materials, photographs, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and miscellany. The oldest items date from the early 1900's and are primarily photographs. The bulk of the collection dates from the early 1940's, around the time Rich joined the U.S. Army Air Force, to the time of his death in 1975. The large majority of these papers were Rich's office files and were transferred from his office in Rich's department store.

These papers document Rich's business career, his service to the Army, his extensive participation in local civic and business organizations, and, to a lesser extent, his role as a family man. Generally, papers relating to his business life are filed in the Rich's, Inc. series with frequent references to his role at Rich's found in the subject files and general correspondence. Similarly, Rich's active participation in local civic groups and in national business associations is represented most prominently in the subject files series with related materials in the Rich's, Inc., general correspondence, and financial and legal papers series. Finally, occasional folders in the subject files, general correspondence, and scrapbooks provide insight into Rich's personal life, habits, and beliefs.

The collection also describes the growth of the downtown store and downtown business community, changes in business and social practices, and movement into suburban malls. Expansions of the store, development of expressways and rapid transit systems, and overall development and beautification of downtown figure prominently in the Rich's, Inc. series. Issues of Rich Bits, the employee magazine, cover a fifty-five year period and reflect changing societal attitudes about work, relationships with employers, and segregation; for example, the separate Christmas parties held each year for black and white employees were featured in winter issues until the early 1960's. The decision in the 1950's to enlarge their potential market by moving into Atlanta neighborhoods and other area cities is documented through feasibility studies, planning reports, printed materials, and correspondence. Similar records outline the establishment of the Richway convenience stores.

Other topics and types of papers found in the collection include extensive files on the Atlanta Arts Alliance in the 1960's. Rich served as the first chairman of the Alliance and played a central role in fundraising campaigns to build a memorial arts center. The movement toward desegregating store facilities and the sit-ins of the early 1960's protesting store policies are covered in the Rich's, Inc. series. Papers relating to Hosea Williams's 1973 lawsuit against Rich for slander during a strike of black employees are found in the subject files. Nine scrapbooks containing correspondence, photographs, articles, newsclippings, and miscellaneous printed material document Rich's life from 1939 to 1975.

There are some gaps in the Rich papers. The role the Rich family played in Atlanta's Jewish community from the 1860's when Morris Rich opened shop to modern times is hardly mentioned. Indeed, except for the financial and legal series and papers about Rich's children in the subject files and photographs, there is little family material. Rich's youth and his early years at Rich's constitute another area of limited coverage. Finally, Rich's role as chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority from 1965 to 1969 and the resulting defeat of a bond referendum to finance a rapid rail system is not covered in detail in the collection.

Correspondents include local, state, and national business and political leaders and other prominent persons. Among the names represented are Ivan Allen, Jr., James V. Carmichael, Dwight D. Eisenhower, William B. Hartsfield, Jesse Hill, Jr., Sinclair Jacobs, Stanley Marcus, Ralph McGill, Margaret Mitchell, Eliza Paschall, Richard B. Russell, Carl Sanders, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Herman Talmadge, Robert W. Woodruff, and Andrew Young.