Kappa Beta Pi Legal Sorority, Eta Chapter. Kappa Beta Pi,
the first legal sorority in the U.S., was founded in 1908 at the
Chicago-Kent College of Law to promote high professional standards among
women law students and lawyers. The Eta Chapter at the University of
Texas School of Law was founded on Dec. 30, 1916, with Mrs. Anna Irene
Sandbo as its first Dean. The chapter was active until the early
1970s.
Scope and Content: Chapter records, minutes,
correspondence, membership lists, clippings, programs, periodicals, and
memorabilia relate to the history, traditions, and activities of the Eta
Chapter, Kappa Beta Pi, and also reflect the role of women in the
University of Texas School of Law and in the legal profession. The
correspondence deals mainly with planning and arrangements for sorority
conventions and recruitment of new members. Also present are a history
of Kappa Beta Pi (1937), the sorority's constitution (1939), and a
scrapbook with news clippings and photographs of members and chapter
activities.
Arrangement: Arranged by material type, then
chronologically. The original order was generally maintained.
Scope and Content: Minutes, correspondence, programs,
photographs and speeches document the incorporation of the Law Class of
1911, its reunions over more than 50 years, its gifts to the University
of Texas School of Law, and publication of the class history.
Related records: See THE 1911 LAW CLASS OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS (n.p., 1949).
Scope and Content: This collection contains scrapbooks,
notebooks, yearbooks, newsletters, and club officers' reports for the
Law Wives Club of The University of Texas School of Law. The material in
the collection reflects the club's social and community service
activities. Among those activities are projects for underpriviledged
children and service men in Vietnam, annual social events, and law
school functions including Assault and Flattery.
Arrangement: Arranged in the following series:
Administrative records, 1947-1972; Vice president's files, 1960-1968;
General materials, 1949-1976; and Scrapbooks, 1950-1971.
Legal Eagles (Football team). The Legal Eagles, an
intramural football team from the School of Law, University of Texas at
Austin, have frequently won Law School and Graduate School football
league championships. Professor Charles Alan Wright coached the Legal
Eagles since their inception in 1955 to 1991, when he became Athletic
Director and Professor Thomas O. McGarity took over as coach. Substitute
coaches over the years have included Professors Bernard J. Ward and Fred
Cohen, and Mr. Don Dickson.
Scope and Content: "The Legal Eagles, 1955-1992," a booklet
compiled by Kathy R. Bartsch, sketches the team's history with win-loss
records, rosters, clippings, and a directory of former players; team
statistics for 1993-1995, and 1997 update this information.
Correspondence (1970-1981) consists mainly of invitations from coaches
Charles Alan Wright and Bernard J. Ward to former Legal Eagles to play
on the Eagle Exes team for the annual "Beer Bowl" game and the replies,
and includes reminiscences about past games. Also included are team
rosters, schedules and scores of past games, and group photographs of
the Legal Eagles and Eagle Exes.
Arrangement: 1. "The Legal Eagles, 1955-1992" (1 vol.). --
2. Rosters, schedules & statistics, 1955-1993. -- 3-4.
Correspondence, 1970-1981. -- 5. Correspondence, Charles Alan Wright and
Bernard J. Ward, 1966-1979. -- 6. Photographs, 1967-1995, 1997 &
undated. -- 7-10. Team statistics, 1993-1995, 1997.
Tarlton Law Library. The Law Library has served as the
library for the University of Texas School of Law since shortly after
the school's founding in 1883. Several leading law librarians have
served to direct the library, including Ione Spears, Doris Connerly, and
Lucy Moore in the early 20th century, Helen Hargrave (1940-1965), and
Roy M. Mersky (1965-present). In 1965 the Law Library severed its
administrative ties with the University of Texas General Libraries and
became a subdivision of the School of Law. In 1992, the Joseph D. Jamail
Center for Legal Research was dedicated in honor of alumnus Joseph D.
Jamail, who contributed a generous endowment. This center includes
Tarlton Law Library and the Center for Computer-Based Legal Research.
Scope and Content: American Bar Association reaccreditation
files (1979-1984) contain reports, memoranda, summary personnel data,
published standards, and other materials relating to the reaccreditation
of the Tarlton Law Library by the American Bar Association. Rare Book
& Special Collections files (1973-ongoing) include the report of the
Law Library's Rare Book Committee (1981-1982), procedure manuals
(1984-1985), correspondence & memoranda (1973-1990), and patron
statistics (1988-1991). Facilities files include records relating to
renovation and construction within the library. Office of the Director
files contain guestbooks chronicling visitors, Roy M. Mersky's papers
relating to Charles Alan Wright and Dean Page Keeton, and his Special
Lectures files. General files are records of day-to-day activities not
associated with a particular department.
Arrangement: Arranged in five series: American Bar
Association reaccreditation files (1979-1984); Rare Book & Special
Collections files (1973-ongoing); Facilities files (1976-1994); Office
of the Director (1964-1994); and General files.
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available in the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
Restrictions: Patron registers subject to restrictions of
the Texas Open Records Act.
Related records: Oxford Law Dictionary Project Records
(F69-70); Texas Center for Child Abuse and Neglect Records (6.219A
processing), Helen Hargrave Papers (Range K).
Texas Law Review. The Texas Law Review was founded in 1922
as a non-profit corporation to serve as forum for the Texas bar; to
publish research and writing by students and faculty of the University
of Texas School of Law, and to serve a bridge between the Law School and
the legal profession. It published its first issue in December 1922.
Professor Leon Green was the primary moving force behind the founding of
the journal, which was modeled on the Harvard Law Review. A board of
directors governs the business affairs of the journal, which is edited
by student editors selected on a merit system.
Scope and Content: The minutes and financial record book
(1922-1972) includes documents on the founding of the Texas Law Review.
Also present are board of trustees minutes (1972-1981), and records
relating to incorporation (1967, 1972).
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available in the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
Related records: Materials relating to the Texas Law
Review's founding, history and ongoing administration can be found in
the Leon Green Papers, Ira P. Hildebrand Papers, Charles T. McCormick
Papers, W. Page Keeton Papers, Helen Hargrave Papers, Law School Subject
Vertical Files, and the School of Law Records.
Texas State University for Negroes. School of Law. Texas
State University for Negroes was founded by the Texas Legislature in
1947 in response to the lawsuit of Sweatt v. Painter, challenging racial
segregation at the University of Texas School of Law. The legislature
created Texas State University for Negroes to provide "separate but
equal" education. The university's law school and law library were
located in a building on the north side of the State Capitol grounds in
Austin, and shared faculty with the University of Texas School of Law.
In 1951 the university, located in Houston, was renamed Texas Southern
University.
Scope and Content: The collection consists of the
acquisition records and correspondence created and gathered by Helen
Hargrave, Head Librarian, Tarlton Law Library, while she was involved in
the establishment of the Texas State University for Negroes law
library.
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available in the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
University of Texas Law School Foundation. The Law School
Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, was founded in 1952 to support the
educational mission of the University of Texas School of Law by
soliciting donations for professorships and scholarships. The University
of Texas Law Alumni Association, an affiliated organization, was founded
in 1939 as the Law School Association; its name was changed in 1986 and
functions as an agent of the Law School Foundation through fundraising
and strengthening the relationships between the Law School and its
alumni. Each organization has its own board.
Scope and Content: Correspondence, agendas, minutes,
bylaws, policy statements, financial statements, and investment reports
document the Law School Foundation's fundraising efforts and management
of endowments. Law School Association and Law Alumni Association files
also deal with fundraising, reunions and other alumni relations
activities. Project files document specific Law School activities
supported by Foundation funds, such as minority recruitment, the Board
of Advocates, Women's Law Caucus, and Patent Law Moot Court team;
special events such as the Foundation's 40th Anniversary and the
dedication of the Joseph D. Jamail Center for Legal Research; and a
survey of former Keepers of the Peregrinus. Correspondence (1966-1968)
deals with fund-raising; the Hugh Lamar Stone Chair in Civil Law; the
John B. Connally Chair; personnel matters; donations from Gulf Oil Co.
and Sid Richardson Foundation; and University of Texas politics.
Arrangement: Arranged in the following series: I. General,
1952-1994 (including correspondence, 1966-1968); II. Trustees meeting,
1993 Nov. 12; III. Trustees meeting, 1994 May 12; IV. Law School
Association, 1951-1982; V. Law Alumni Association, 1990-[ongoing]; VI.
Project files, 1968-1993; Alumni Reunion files, 1985-1989.
Related records: See also the Law School Foundation
Photographs, Law School Foundation Videotapes, Law Alumni Association
Photographs, W. Page Keeton Papers, and the Law School Subject Vertical
Files.
Scope and Content: Law faculty material (1923-1982, bulk
1928-1960) contains mainly of memoranda and reports to the faculty,
faculty meeting minutes, budget materials, and minutes of Budget Council
meetings. Also included is a file of materials relating to the
Peregrinus yearbook (1967-1982). Conferences, institutes, etc.
(1953-1981, bulk 1964-1978) contains programs, agendas, handouts,
planning materials, publicity materials, and correspondence relating to
Law School-sponsored conferences, institutes, workshops, and symposia.
Legal research and writing files (1967-1969, bulk 1969) consist of style
manuals, policy statements, and writing guides of law reviews from law
schools around the U.S., solicited by Professor Roy M. Mersky in 1969
for use in the Law School's legal writing courses. Hopwood v. Texas case
files (1991-1996) consist of copies of briefs, motions, court orders,
and opinions filed in federal court regarding a reverse discrimination
lawsuit filed against the Law School over affirmative action in
admissions. Personnel files, deceased faculty (1944-1994) contain
personnel records and other biographical materials.
Finding aid: A checklist for the collection is available in
the Tarlton Library's Rare Book Reading Room.
Related records: Law School Subject Vertical Files; Law
School Photograph Collection; Law School Audio/Video Collection;
Hildebrand (Ira P.) Papers; McCormick (Charles T.) Papers; Gibson (T.
J.) Papers; Fullerton (Bryon) Papers.
