Scope and Content: The Tarlton Law Library began soliciting
books and articles authored by alumni of the University of Texas School
of Law for an exhibit entitled "Alumni Authors" in 1988 for an alumni
reunion, which went on permanent display outside the Faculty Library on
the 3rd floor of Townes Hall. Since then the Law Library has solicited
and received donations. By the end of 1996 there were 212 volumes
representing 79 authors. In addition to legal treatises and law review
articles, the publications included the "Eyebeam" comics of Sam Hurt
(class of 1983) to books on wine tasting and doll collecting. The
permanent exhibit was moved to bookcases in front of Francis Auditorium
in early 1997.
Scope and Content: Detailed handwritten notes of an
unidentified student for corporations class in University of Texas
School of Law, 30 Sept. 1911 through 19 Dec. 1911, taught by Prof. I. P.
Hildebrand. On flyleaf, crossed out: "Property II. E.P. Lipscomb. (Vol.
III of Gray's Cases)". On flyleaf: "Corporations. Seat 242 (As a
visitor). (By adverse poss.)."
Gilchrist, Henry, 1924- . The son of Gibb Gilchrist
(president of Texas A&M College and first Chancellor of the Texas
A&M System) Henry Gilchrist entered The University of Texas School
of Law in January 1948 after earning a B.S. in Civil Engineering from
A&M and serving three years in the U.S. Army during World War II.
His study method in law school was to read and brief the cases assigned,
and to prepare a course outline as he progressed through each course. In
his second year, Gilchrist was selected to the editorial staff of the
Texas Law Review, served as the journal's Senior Note Editor in his
third year, and published two case notes and an article ("The Form of a
New Texas Constitution") in vol. 28 (1949-50). He was also Prof. M. K.
Woodward's Quizmaster, was inducted into the Chancellors honor society,
belonged to the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, and was elected to the
Order of the Coif upon graduation in August 1950. Gilchrist's first job
after graduation was with the law firm of Douglass & McGuire in
Pampa, Tex., and in 1951 he became the fifth lawyer in the Dallas firm
of Jenkens & Bowen, which later became known as Jenkens &
Gilchrist and grew to over 400 lawyers with offices in eight cities.
Gilchrist was the firm's Managing Partner for about 25 years.
Scope and Content: Course outlines, class notes, annotated
textbooks, and related materials compiled by Henry Gilchrist during his
studies at the University of Texas School of Law, 1948-1950, provide a
nearly complete documentary record of one student's legal education. As
was typical for law students, Gilchrist would first read & brief the
cases assigned for class, then take notes from class lectures &
discussions, and then organize these materials into a typed outline for
the course. This outline became the student's guide in preparing for the
final examination. Some of the outlines are over 200 pages long. The
collection contains 28 typed course outlines, each in its own binder, as
well as class notes for 3 courses, and 21 heavily annotated casebooks
and textbooks. Also present are two issues of the TEXAS LAW REVIEW
containing two case summaries authored by Gilchrist (Nov. 1949) and an
article he wrote, "The Form of a New Texas Constitution" (June 1950).
The period when Gilchrist attended the UT Law School is significant
because it was a time of explosive enrollment growth from returning
World War II veterans, as well as growth of the faculty. Gilchrist's
professors included Leon Green, George W. Stumberg, Leo W. Leary, Joseph
Witherspoon, Clarence Morris, Howard Williams, William O. Huie, and Gus
Hodges.
Arrangement: Organized in the following series: 1. Class
outlines & notes, 1948-1950. -- 2. Casebooks. -- 3. Casebooks,
separated to Faculty Writings Collection. 4. Publications of Henry
Gilchrist. -- 5. Separated materials, publications.
Goodrich, William F. Attorney and banker, Hemphill, Texas;
graduated in 1886 with LL.B. from University of Texas.
Scope and Content: Consists of: University of Texas
Bachelor of Law Diploma awarded to Goodrich, 1886; license to practice
law issued to Goodrich, 9 Sept. 1902, by the U.S. District Court,
Eastern District of Texas; license to practice law issued to Goodrich by
the Supreme Court of Texas, 15 June 1886.
Johnson, Corwin W., 1917- , interviewee. Corwin W. Johnson
started as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas School of Law
in 1947, was promoted to Associated Professor in 1949, became Professor
of Law in 1954, and took emeritus status in 1988. Johnson is an expert
in land use, real property and water rights law, and has published two
casebooks. Before coming to Texas, Johnson was an F.B.I. agent for four
years, and taught for a year at the University of Iowa. He received his
undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Iowa.
Scope and Content: The interview covers Professor Corwin
Johnson's 50-year career at the University of Texas School of Law, with
special attention to the Sweatt v. Painter case, where the NAACP
challenged segregation at the law school, and Johnson's service on the
faculty of a "separate but equal" law school set up by the State of
Texas in response to the lawsuit, with faculty and library books
borrowed from the University's law school. Another topic is a
controversy that arose over a 1948 McDougal/Haber property law casebook
used by Johnson in his classes, which a few faculty and alumni labeled
as leftist. He also discusses the campus and the tremendous growth of
the law school after World War II; the song "The Common Law of Texas",
which he sang at the 1959 meeting of the A.A.L.S.; and Deans Charles
McCormick and Page Keeton. Also included are his views on the curriculum
and faculty during his tenure; and the increase in the diversity of the
law school faculty and students over the years.
Finding aid: Published as: CORWIN W. JOHNSON: AN ORAL
HISTORY INTERVIEW (Austin: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2003);
includes index.
Jones, Richard Harper, 1880-1951. A resident of Livingston,
Texas, Richard Harper Jones attended the University of Texas School of
Law during 1912-1913, after serving five years as county school
superintendent of Polk County. He was admitted to the bar in 1913 and
practiced a short time in Livingston, but then worked as a school
superintendent in Robstown and a county agricultural extension agent in
Palestine and Huntsville before returning to Livingston where he resumed
law practice for the remainder of his life and served as county
attorney.
Scope and Content: Contains handwritten notes in a ledger
book for Spring Semester 1911 classes at the University of Texas, for
Law School classes in contracts and torts, as well as classes in
economics, government, and geography in the College of Liberal
Arts.
Scope and Content: The Law Library Subject Vertical Files
are a primary research source encompassing general material about the
Tarlton Law Library, including its history; acquisitions, book and
budget material; lectures, conferences, exhibits and other special
events; and staff material. Files may also contain cross references and
referrals to other sources in the Law Library. It is an artificial
collection; new materials are added regularly.
Arrangement: The subject files are arranged alphabetically
and items, in the files, are arranged chronologically.
Scope and Content: An artificial collection of several
hundred photographs which document the faculty, students, facilities,
and traditions of the University of Texas School of Law. Of special note
are the series of composite photographs of the Law School's senior
classes and faculty, which begin with the first graduating class in 1884
and continue until 1960. Other significant groups include photographs of
the various buildings which have housed the Law School, and of the
faculty. Some photographs were separated from manuscript
collections.
Arrangement: Organized into the following series: I. Law
school buildings, 1953, undated; II. Activities and traditions, 1911,
1987; III. Law classes, 1883-1982; IV. Individual law students,
1884-1979; V. Law school faculty (individuals), [ca. 1905-ongoing]; VI.
Law school faculty (groups), 1912-1995.
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available in the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
Related records: Alice Jane Sheffield Collection
Texas Law Forum Collection
Extent: 1 oversize scrapbook (38 leaves) ; 58 x 48 cm.
Scope and Content: This scrapbook contains clippings taken
from The Daily Texan and the Austin American-Statesman concerning the
University of Texas School of Law and its students, faculty,
ex-students, organizations, and activities. Topics include the Sweatt v.
Painter case, World War II veterans, students in the Texas Legislature,
the Peregrinus mascot, construction of Townes Hall, launching of the
Peregrinus yearbook, and women in the legal profession. Some items are
duplicated in the Law School Subject Vertical Files.
Scope and Content: The Law School Subject Vertical Files
contain news clippings, ephemera, publications, correspondence, and
other materials documenting the history of the University of Texas
School of Law and its activities, traditions, students, organizations,
publications, and faculty. Tarlton Law Library staff has continually
added new material to the files since at least the 1950s. Files may also
contain cross references to other sources in the Law Library. Of special
note are extensive files on Heman Marion Sweatt and Sweatt v. Painter,
the man and the 1949 lawsuit that desegregated the University of Texas;
the Hopwood v. Texas reverse discrimination lawsuit (1992-ongoing);
biographical materials on Law School faculty and outstanding alumni; and
materials documenting Law School buildings, the Peregrinus (the Law
School mascot), and other Law School traditions.
Arrangement: The subject files are organized into the
following series: general Law School material; Law School activities
& traditions; students & law classes; Law School publications
& organizations; lectures, conferences & other special events;
and Law School faculty. The subject files are arranged alphabetically
within each series; items within the files are arranged
chronologically.
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available in the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
Mauzy, Oscar H., 1926-2000, interviewee. A native of
Houston's Fifth Ward, Oscar H. Mauzy entered The University of Texas
under the GI Bill after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He
earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1950 and an LL.B. from the
School of Law in 1952. He served 20 years in the Texas Senate,
representing the 23rd Senatorial District in Dallas, and in 1986 was
elected to a six-year term on the Texas Supreme Court. He also practiced
law and has been active in the Democratic Party.
Scope and Content: A primary topic of the interview is
Mauzy's legal education at the University of Texas School of Law,
1949-1952, and particularly the integration of the Law School following
the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Sweatt v. Painter. Mauzy discusses
at length the attitudes of students and faculty toward integration. He
also relates his efforts as a state senator to promote minority
recruitment at the Law School in the 1960s through the Continuing Legal
Educational Opportunity program, and his views on the Hopwood v. Texas
case (1996), which struck down the Law School's affirmative action
program. Other topics include the social make-up of the post-WWII Law
School student body; Mauzy's upbringing in Houston's Fifth Ward; Mauzy's
law professors; his judicial philosophy; his decision to become a
lawyer; and student life in the Law School in the early 1950s.
McCartney, James W., 1929- , interviewee. A 1952 graduate
of the University of Texas School of Law, James W. McCartney went on to
practice oil and gas law and arbitration law in Houston, Texas, with the
firm of Vinson & Elkins, where he rose to senior partner.
Scope and Content: McCartney discusses his law professors
while in the Law School, the McDougal-Haber casebook controversy, Heman
Sweatt and Virgil Lott, and some early woman law students. McCartney
also discusses his family's connections to the Law School, the Law
School Foundation, the growth of the Law School and its fights with the
State Legislature, and the important cases he has worked on in his
career.
Most, Dorothy Caroline, 1902-1983. Dorthy C. Most of
Houston was the only woman in the Senior Law Class of 1925. After
graduation she went to work for the Baker & Botts law firm in
Houston, and later moved to New York City where she married and became
Dorothy Most Schraeder. While in New York, she attended Julliard School
of Music, studied philosophy at New York University, and was dean of
women at St. John's University for several years. She later returned to
Texas and practiced law.
Scope and Content: This college scrapbook contains a wealth
of memorabilia, photographs, correspondence, greeting cards, ephemera,
anecdotes, and annotations documenting the students, faculty, events,
and activities at The University of Texas and its law school during the
years that Dorothy Most was enrolled and for a few years afterward. Also
present are some items related to her job search after college and her
work at Baker & Botts. After 1933, the only material that was
apparently added was a 1939 letter from Dean Ira P. Hildebrand, and some
annotations in red ink that are dated 1975.
Savage, Russell (Robert Russell), 1881-1944. Savage created
the Peregrinus, mascot for the University of Texas School of Law, in
response to a lecture by Professor William Stewart Simkins in his equity
class on the Praetor Peregrinus of Roman law. Savage graduated from the
School of Law in 1902 and later worked as an attorney in Corpus Christi,
Tex.
Scope and Content: Caricatures, doodles and lettering by
Savage, including one of the Peregrinus mascot with Prof. William
Stewart Simkins depicted as a winged beast labeled "Animo Movendi",
appear on the front and back pages of: LECTURES ON REAL ESTATE /
DELIVERED BY YANCEY LEWIS TO SENIOR LAW CLASS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS. --
[Austin], 1902.
Related records: See also files on the Peregrinus in the
Law School Subject Vertical Files.
Sheffield, Alice Jane, 1890-1984. Alice Jane (Drysdale)
Sheffield graduated in 1918 from University of Texas School of Law, and
was an attorney with the Gulf Oil Corporation until her retirement. She
was a benefactor of higher education, and the Sheffield Room in Townes
Hall is named in her honor.
Scope and Content: Photographs are of Sheffield as a young
woman, including some showing her in evening dress holding a feathered
fan; and of T. M. Reagan Sheffield's stepfather(?), in U.S. Army
uniform. Certificates include University of Texas Bachelor of Laws
Diploma awarded to Alice Jane Drysdale, 1918 June 11; Ex-Students'
Association of The University of Texas life membership to Alice Jane
Drysdale Sheffield, 1964 Feb. 17; and Order of the Coif membership to
Alice Jane Sheffield, 1974 May 18. Plaques were presented to Sheffield
by Law School Foundation, 1977, and Law School Association, 1981.
Smyth, Murray G., 1901-1976. A 1924 graduate of The
University of Texas School of Law, Murray G. Smyth grew up in Uvalde,
Texas. He was admitted to the Texas bar in 1925 and did graduate studies
at the Harvard Law School in 1925-1926. He practiced law in Houston for
over 50 years and held leadership positions in the State Bar and the
Houston Bar Association.
Scope and Content: 1 black-&-white photograph ; 10 x 12
in., group photograph of graduate law program at Harvard Law School,
1926, including Murray G. Smyth, Tom Corcoran, Roscoe Pound, and Felix
Frankfurter. -- 1 black-&-white photograph ; 10 x 15 in., Harvard
Law School Class of 1926, 35th Reunion, 1961 Oct. 14. -- University of
Texas Commencement program, 1924. -- Leather-bound invitations,
University of Texas Commencement, 1923 & 1925. -- UT School of Law
Annual banquet program, 1922 Dec. 11. -- Postcard with Peregrinus
mascot. -- Black-&-white omposite photograph in holder, inscribed
"Delta Theta Phi Fraternity Univ. of Texas" and including Smyth's
photo.
Related records: See also White v. Smyth Case Files.
Scope and Content: The T-Shirts Collection provides a
colorful and often humorous perspective on the legal profession and
student life at the University of Texas School of Law and other law
schools. The illustrators include noted cartoonist Sam Hurt, a 1983
graduate of the UT Law School and creator of the comic strips "Eyebeam"
and "Queen of the Universe." The T-shirts are from the following
sources: (1) organizations and activities of the University of Texas
School of Law; (2) other law schools and law libraries; and (3) law
and/or library-related organizations, including T-shirts produced for
retail. The collection grew out of a Spring 1988 Tarlton Law Library
exhibit (entitled LAW SUITS) of law school and law library T-shirts
given or loaned to Tarlton by its many friends.
Arrangement: Organized into three series: I. University of
Texas; II. Other law schools and libraries; III. Law or library-related
organizations.
Scope and Content: Consisting mainly of photocopies, the UT
School of Law History Files bring together a wide range of documentation
on the people, issues and events that shaped the Law School's history,
from its founding in 1883 as one of the University's original
departments, up to the 1980s. UT law professor Hans W. Baade compiled
the files to write a history of the University of Texas School of Law.
The first part of this history was published (Hans W. Baade, "The Law at
Texas: The Roberts-Gould Era (1883-1893)," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly 86 (Oct. 1982), 161-196), but the project was discontinued and
the files were donated to the Tarlton Law Library in 1995. The
photocopies come mainly from University of Texas records in the
University Archives at the Barker Texas History Center, School of Law
records and manuscript collections in the Tarlton Law Library, and
University of Texas publications. There are also offprints, drafts of
literary works, and photocopied articles from the Daily Texan, the
Alcalde, and law journals. Citations of the sources for many items are
either incomplete or absent.
A large part of the collection is the speeches and annual reports of
the Law School Deans, and their memoranda and correspondence on a
variety of issues, such as funding, the growth of the school and the
need for a new law building. Early budget and salary information is also
present, as well as UT Board of Regents meeting minutes concerning the
Law School and correspondence on controversial issues such as the firing
of Law School faculty. Other topics documented include the Sweatt v.
Painter case (1946-1949), which ended racial segregation in the
University of Texas; the fued between Regent Frank Erwin and Law School
Dean Page Keeton over the admission of out-of-state students and Erwin's
attempts to fire outspoken law professors; early women law students; Law
School traditions; and biographical materials on dozens of Law School
faculty & alumni. Another significant part of the collection is from
the papers of Leon Green, who had a 70-year intermittent affiliation
with the Law School as a student (1907-1911), professor (1915-1918,
1921-1926, and 1947-1977), and close friend of Dean Charles T.
McCormick. His correspondence, speeches and publications reveal many of
the issues the school faced during these times. Correspondence from
ex-students reveal their impressions of some of the early faculty and
their memories of their law school years.
Arrangement: Materials were originally received in three
cartons with a two-page typescript inventory of folder titles broken
down into two divisions: Biographical Files and Chronological Files.
During processing, a third division, General Files), was added. Some
folders were re-titled and shifted to better fit the series, but the
finding aid generally preserves the original intellectual
arrangement.
Walker, A. W. (Agesilaus Wilson), Jr., 1901-1987. A 1923
graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, Walker was the first
student editor-in-chief of the Texas Law Review. He joined the Law
School's faculty in 1925 and by the time he returned to private practice
in Dallas in 1948, he was known as the leading authority on Texas oil
and gas law.
Scope and Content: This collection consists of eleven
notebooks containing autograph and typescript notes taken by Agesilaus
Walker, Jr. while a student at The University of Texas School of Law.
The notebooks are for classes in civil procedure, common law actions,
criminal law, equity, evidence, mortgages, sales, and torts.
