Scope and Content Note
The papers of William H. Gobitas (1925-1989) span the years 1935-1989, with the bulk of the material dating from 1935 to 1940. The collection consists of court documents, photographs, correspondence, notes, ephemera, newspaper clippings, and other printed matter pertaining to freedom of speech and legal cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses. The papers document in particular the United States Supreme Court case, Minersville v. Gobitis (sic), concerning the refusal of ten-year-old Billy Gobitas and his twelve-year-old sister, Lillian, to salute the American flag in their school in Minersville, Pennsylvania, in 1935. The collection includes letters written by Gobitas and his sister to school officials explaining the religious basis for their refusal, Walter Gobitas's notes from the school board meeting at which his children were expelled, and photographs of the Gobitas children around 1935.