The Rare Books and Special Collections department of theTarlton Law Library, in collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society, is proud to present a new exhibit in celebration of Black History Month. The exhibit, entitled “Black History Month 2008: Historical Highlights from the U.T. Law School,” chronicles the history of African American students at The University of Texas School of Law over six decades.
Beginning with Heman Sweatt’s admittance to the Law School in the 1950 to the present day, the exhibit chronicles the development of the Law School since the early days of integration. Newspaper clippings and Peregrinus excerpts memorialize seminal events including the formation of the Thurgood Marshall Society and the Law School’s efforts to increase student diversity through minority recruitment programs. Several prominent African American Alumni are featured in the exhibit, including Virgil Lott, Gloria Bradford, and Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson.
The exhibit was researched by Jennifer Cummings, Archives Assistant and designed and prepared by Jennifer Cummings and Melanie Cofield, with assistance from the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society.
The Tarlton Law Library will present its fourth annual rare book lecture, entitled “Blackstone and His Contemporaries,” on Thursday, February 21, 2008, at 3:30 p.m. The talk features Anthony Taussig, a London barrister considered by many to be the world’s leading private collector of rare English law books and manuscripts. In honor of the upcoming lecture, a new exhibit is on display in the Law School’s Susman Godfrey Atrium.
Exhibit materials serve as an introduction to the speaker, the lecture topic, and Tarlton’s rare book lecture series. The exhibit celebrates the career and scholarly achievements of Anthony Taussig, and includes several prized Blackstone publications from the Tarlton’s rare books collection, including the British first edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries [1765-1769], and Blackstone’s anonymous first publication, An Analysis of the Laws of England [1756]. The exhibit also highlights past and future rare book lectures, and includes copies of published lectures that are part of the Tarlton Law Library’s Legal History Series.
The exhibit was researched, designed and prepared by Jennifer Cummings and Melanie Cofield.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Law School’s Sheffield Room (TNH 2.111).
For details about the lecture, visit http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/rare/rare_lecture4.html.