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Donald Richberg

American lawyer (1881-1960)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ5295062 ↗
Source-derived summary

Donald Randall Richberg (July 10, 1881 - November 27, 1960) was an American attorney, civil servant, and author who was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's key aides and who played a critical role in the New Deal. He co-wrote the National Industrial Recovery Act, was general counsel and executive director of the National Recovery Administration. He also co-authored the Railway Labor Act, the Norris-LaGuardia Act, and the Taft-Hartley Act.

Early life and career

Donald Richberg was born in July 1881 in Knoxville, Tennessee, to John Carl and Eloise Olivia (née Randall) Richberg. His grandfather, Louis Richberg, and his father had migrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1851. His grandfather set up shop as a merchant in New York City before moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1854 and starting a meatpacking business. Richberg's father became a corporate attorney and later represented the City of Chicago. His grandmother, Mirenda Briggs Randall, and his mother were both physicians. His sister was the aviator Leda Richberg-Hornsby.

Donald Richberg graduated from a Chicago public high school, received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1901, and a J.D. from Harvard University in 1904.

Editorial summary

“Donald Richberg” enters the record as american lawyer (1881-1960). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Donald, Richberg and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1881, 1960, 1851, 1854—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1881-07-10. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Donald, Richberg and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Donald Richberg” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Donald, Richberg and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5295062. VIAF identifies the subject as 63028797. The Library of Congress control number is n86081384. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1881, 1960, 1851 and 1854.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Donald Richberg”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Donald Richberg primary sources, Donald Richberg archive and Donald research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Donald Richberg”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Donald Richberg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.