Melvin David Smith walks into Superior Court with his sister-in-law after declaring he wanted to relinquish custody of his two children, Los Angeles, 1947

Title: Melvin David Smith walks into Superior Court with his sister-in-law after declaring he wanted to relinquish custody of his two children, Los Angeles, 1947
Date Created: April 23, 1947
Date: 1947-04-23
Publisher: Los Angeles Daily News
Language: No linguistic content
Collection: Los Angeles Daily News Negatives

Description: Shirley Smith, 14, and her brother Donald Smith, 11, were "abandoned" after their mother, Betty Alice Phillips, and father, Melvin D. Smith, both declared that they were unable to care for the children. The father, Mr. Smith, stated that he was re-married and had three children from his second wife. He asked to be relieved of custody because the two sets of children did not get along. Mrs. Phillips asked to be relieved of custody because she was in the process of divorcing her second husband and did not have a home to provide the children. Ultimately, Mrs. Phillips secured a home from her estranged husband and agreed to keep custody of the children. Superior Judge Fred Miller awarded custody to Mrs. Phillips.
Caption: Handwritten annotation from nitrate negative: Melvin David Smith and sister-in-law.

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections
ARK: ark:/21198/zz00280rvz
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Rights statement: copyrighted
Rights Holder: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310)825-4988
Rights Country: US
Funding Note: Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .