DAVID L. GRAVEN:

David L. Graven was born on July 22, 1929 in Minneapolis. Graven grew up in Greene County, Iowa, the son of a federal district judge, and graduated from St. Olaf College in 1950. After receiving his law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1953, Graven worked for the law firm of Dorsey & Associates for seven months, then served in Germany as a first lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General's Corps until 1957. Upon return to the United States, Graven formed a partnership with Russell Olson in Albert Lea, Minnesota and also served under Olson as an assistant attorney to Freeborn County.

In 1964 Graven accepted a post as a professor in the University of Minnesota's law school. He taught in the school until 1974 when he went back into private practice with James S. Holmes and Robert E. Kircher. This practice was later chartered under the name of Holmes and Graven. Graven remained with this firm until his death in 1991.

Active in state politics, Graven attended the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Democratic National Conventions as a Minnesota delegate and served as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party State Executive Committee from 1964 through 1970. Twice unsuccessful in his own campaign bids: Graven ran for a seat in the U.S. House in 1962 but lost to Al Quie and ran for the democratic nomination for governor in 1970 but lost that bid to Wendell Anderson. Graven was one of the founding members of Minnesotans for Durenberger, which helped elect Durenberger to the U.S. Senate in 1982 under an independent ticket.

Active in community dialogues regarding policy, particularly in the areas of public affairs, transportation, and health care, Graven served on a number of councils, coalitions, and committees. His participation as a voluntary member or appointed commissioner have included such organizations as the Albert Lea City Planning Commission (1958-1961), the Minnesota Uniform Law Commission (1958-1961), the Citizens League (1963-1970 and 1974-1991), the Hennepin County Legal Aid Society (1967-1975), the Metropolitan Council (1971-1974), the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Criminal procedure (1971-1991), the Metropolitan Transportation Advisory Board (1977-1984), the Minnesota Coalition on Health Care Costs (1983-1984), the Community Advisory Council of the University of Minnesota's Center for Biomedical Ethics (1987-1991), and the University's Health Sciences Advisory Committee (1989).

Biographical information was taken from the collection.

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The papers document the personal, professional, civic, and political life of David L. Graven, an attorney who specialized in real estate, criminal, and public affairs law. Included are resumes and vitae, correspondence, minutes and reports, interviews, legal briefs and writings, speeches, seminar files, political campaign and convention files, press releases, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, sound recordings, and video recordings. The correspondence series and files originating from Graven's participation on various councils, coalitions, and committees comprise the bulk of the collection. Graven's involvement with the Citizens League, the Minnesota Coalition on Health Care Costs, and the Historical Society of the U.S. Courts in the Eighth District are well represented. Particularly well documented are Graven's activities in the areas of bioethics and open meeting law.

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These records are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. David L. Graven Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,137

Processing Information:

Processed by: Monica Manny, April 1997

Catalog ID number: 990017338340104294

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Materials included within the biographical data include resumes and vitae, a 1981 resume of Graven's law firm, newspaper and magazine clippings, ephemera, and two video recordings. The resumes and vitae detail Graven's professional and civic activities from 1962 through the mid 1970s. Included within the resumes is an autobiographical sketch Graven wrote for his 1970 gubernatorial campaign. The clippings cover Graven's high school years, his college years, his legal career, his teaching career, his civic activities, and his death. Additional clippings regarding his political activities can be found within the series of papers pertaining to politics. Included within the ephemera are various cards and certificates evidencing Graven's achievements, memberships and awards from 1936 through 1988. The video recordings include a family history narrated by Graven, complete with reformatted family photographs and motion pictures. The second recording is a posthumous account narrated and produced by Graven's law partner, Jim Holmes. This account includes clips from various seminars and interviews in which Graven participated as well as brief reminiscences and tributes from local political figures and members of the legal profession such as Wendell Anderson, Dave Durenberger, Donald Fraser, Skip Humphrey, Walter F. Mondale, Russell Olson, Warren Spannaus, and Robert Stein.

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The correspondence files include both incoming and outgoing letters which begin in 1949 while Graven was a student at St. Olaf College and continue through April 1991 just before his death Topics covered by the correspondence include all aspects of Graven's life and all aspects of his political and professional interests. Included are letters from family members and letters from professional, civic, and political associates. Notable, but irregular, correspondents within the collection include such political figures as Dave Durenberger, Orville Freeman, Hubert H. Humphrey, Walter F, Mondale, and Warren Spannaus. Correspondence dating from 1950 through 1960 includes letter sent or received by Graven's father, Henry Graven, concerning Graven's academic and professional achievements. Included within the correspondence files is a separate folder of correspondence sent from the David Graven household in Minnesota to the Henry Graven household in Iowa between 1960 and 1970 and an additional folder of letters addressed to Graven's children between 1968 and 1989 as "Dear Gang" letters. Additional family letters can be found interspersed throughout the correspondence.

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Clippings of articles published in the Wall Street Journal written by Graven's daughter.

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Files originating from Graven's participation on various councils, coalitions, and committees primarily document his professional and civic interests and activities during the late 1970's and throughout the 1980s. Materials within these files include correspondence, agendas, minutes, reports, press clippings, and other miscellany.

Files reflecting Graven's involvement with organizations related to his legal profession include the Minnesota branch of the Historical Society of the U.S. Courts in the Eight District; the Legislative Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association; and the Lawyers Public Affairs Commission (LAWPAC), a political action coalition formed with Graven's impetus out of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Materials reflecting Graven's interest in public affairs include such topics as private sector delivery of public services, transportation, and medical technology. The issues of medical technology and health care costs are extensively documented within the files pertaining to the Price of Life Task Force, a group formed in 1983 under the Minnesota Coalition on Health Care Costs and chaired by Graven. The work of this task force resulted in the 1984 publication of a report and extended discussion within the medical and public communities.

Other documented groups in which Graven participated include the Task Force on Alternative Delivery Systems chaired by Dave Durenberger under the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations; the Citizens League; the Metropolitan Council; the Transplant Policy Advisory Committee of the Center for New Democratic Processes; the Red Cross Independent Organ Procurement Advisory Board; and two advisory committees pertaining to the University of Minnesota's Center for Biomedical Ethics and health sciences program.

Additional information concerning Graven's membership with these various groups and further background discussion of group projects may be found within Graven's correspondence. Additional material specifically related to the University of Minnesota can be found in the Citizens League's Commitment to Focus report and in a 1986 radio interview with Graven.

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Interviews with Graven include recordings of four radio and television broadcasts which contain discussions of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, medical technology and health care costs, and the 1986 Citizens League report on the University of Minnesota.

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The writings, legal briefs, seminars, and speeches represent Graven's literary and speaking activities. These materials include assorted texts, articles, and speeches written by Graven that were intended for the purpose of publication, legal case work, seminar case studies, or speaking engagements. Topical issues included within this series of papers range from religion and politics to health care and education.

The most extensive documentation is centered in the area of real estate and public meeting law, two of Graven's specialties. Papers pertaining to these topics consist of Graven's research files and the materials he prepared for use in seminars.

Also noteworthy are two writings regarding Graven's participation in the regional transportation planning processes of the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities. Graven chaired the Council's Transportation Advisory Board from 1977 to 1984 and, while these writings predate that chairmanship, they give a good history of the council's impact on Twin Cities transportation development policy as well as Graven's personal perspective.

Graven's speech files are extremely disorderly, containing handwritten notes and texts. Also included are scattered correspondence, research materials, clippings, and events programs. Very few of the speeches are available in a typescript form. The bulk are filed together in rough chronological sequence as speech miscellany; the remainder by topical title.

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Papers chronicling Graven's political life include files documenting his 1962 congressional campaign, his 1970 gubernatorial campaign, his membership in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Jim Erickson's 1972 congressional campaign, and Dave Durenberger's 1982 congressional campaign. These papers include campaign literature, committee files, correspondence, financial materials, press releases, newspaper clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks. Additional information regarding Graven's political interests and associations may be found within the correspondence.

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Two law texts, authored by Graven, regarding Minnesota criminal procedure are available in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection. The first of these, published in 1966, is titled Minnesota & Federal Criminal Law and procedure. The second, titled Comparative Analysis of American Bar Association Standards for Criminal Justice with Minnesota Laws, Rules and Legal Practice, was published in 1971.

Materials originating from Graven's tenure as chairman of the Transportation Advisory Board may be referenced within the records of the Twin Cities Transportation Planning Program filed under the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area in the Minnesota State Archives.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Bioethics -- Minnesota.

Electioneering -- Minnesota.

Health care reform -- Minnesota.

Lawyers in politics -- Minnesota.

Medical care, Cost of -- Minnesota.

Medical technology -- Minnesota.

Practice of law -- Minnesota.

Public meetings -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Public policy (law) -- Minnesota.

Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc. -- Minnesota.

Places:

Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1951.

Person:

Durenberger, David.

Organizations:

Center for New Democratic Processes. Citizens Panel on Transplants and Public Policy.

Citizens League (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit. District of Minnesota Branch.

Holmes & Graven.

Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area.

Minnesota Coalition on Health Care Costs. Task Force on the Affordability of New Technology and Highly Specialized Care: Life at Any Price?

Minnesotans for Durenberger.

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations. Task Force on Alternative Delivery Systems.

University of Minnesota.

Types of Documentation:

Interviews.

Speeches.

Occupations:

Educators -- Minnesota.

Lawyers -- Minnesota.

Titles:

Commitment to focus.

Issues of the '80s, enlarging our capacity to adapt.

Price of life.

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