Descriptions of Available Unprocessed Collections -- UT School of Law
These collections are available for research but have not been fully processed. Occasionally an inventory or checklist is avalable for researchers in the Rare Books Reading Room.
Leo G. Blackstock papers,
1925-1979, bulk 1940-1955.
- Extent: 6.5 linear ft.
- Blackstock, Leo G., 1899-1972. Blackstock taught at Trinity
University (1924-25) and Sam Houston State Teachers College (1925-27)
before joining the faculty of The University of Texas in 1927 as
Professor of Business Law. He was also a Visiting Professor in the
School of Law (1953-66), teaching military law and legal accounting.
During 1937-39 he took a leave to serve as Chief Examiner, Gas Utilities
Division, Texas Railroad Commission. Blackstock was called to active
duty in the U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General's Corps, in 1940. He
served in the New Guinea and Philippine campaigns (1944-45) and
prosecuted Japanese war criminals as Chief of the Prosecution Division,
General Headquarters, Tokyo (1945-1948). He left active duty as a
colonel and returned to his teaching duties at The University in 1948,
until his retirement in 1971. He received his B.A. (1923), M.B.A.
(1925), and LL.B. (1933) from The University of Texas.
- Scope and Content: Case files contain correspondence,
reports, and case files relating to Blackstock's service as prosecutor
in trials of Class B and Class C war criminals in Japan, and in
courts-martial. Instructional materials include manuals, outlines, and
handouts for courses on military law. Printed materials on military law
include slip opinions, manuals, newsletters, and other material.
Military records contain rosters, orders, memoranda, and other records
documenting Blackstock's service in the Judge Advocate General's Corps,
U.S. Army, and also include correspondence and oaths of allegiance of
the Ledgue of Deffenders [sic] (1942-1945), who apparently fought the
Japanese in Mindanao, Philippines. Faculty papers relate to Blackstock's
service as a faculty member in the UT-Austin School of Business and
School of Law. Photographs show Blackstock and other participants in the
Judge Advocate General's School. Sojourn in Occupied Japan, by Graham
Belcher (Mrs. Leo G.) Blackstock, describes life in Japan during the
U.S. occupation.
- Arrangement: Organized in the following series: I. Case
files, Japanese war crimes, 1945-49. II. Case files, courts-martial.
III. Instructional materials, military law, U.S. Army. IV. Instructional
materials, military law, University of Texas School of Law. V. Printed
materials, military law, 1940-1955. VI. Military records. VII. Faculty
papers. VIII. Personal papers. IX. Photographs, Judge Advocate General's
School, 5 items, 1952-1953. X. Maps, Third Army maneuvers,
Texas-Louisiana, 5 items, 1940. XI. Sojourn in Occupied Japan / Graham
Belcher Blackstock, 1 volume, 1979.
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Faculty writings collection,
1907-[ongoing].
- Extent: Over 3,500 vols.
- Scope and Content: A collection of publications authored by
the School of Law faculty which documents the development of legal
education and legal scholarship at The University of Texas. It includes
books, mimeographed casebooks, complete issues of journals, article
reprints, photocopies of articles, and a few typescript drafts &
speeches. As of 1996, the collection contained works by 151 authors,
with over 200 items added each year. Since at least the 1980s, the
Tarlton Law Library has asked law professors to donate their
publications. Other items have been transferred from the Law Library's
general collection, separated from manuscript collections, or donated by
others. The earliest item in the collection is GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE
LAW OF TORTS by John C. Townes (1907), and the earliest Law School
casebook is Leon Green's CASES ON CIVIL PROCEDURE IN TRIAL COURTS
(1925).
- Arrangement: Arranged by author. Most publications of
current faculty are on display in the Faculty Writings Exhibit.
- Finding aid: Items added since 1992 are entered in a
database; inquire in the Tarlton Law Library's Rare Book Reading Room
for details.
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Lauch McLaurin papers,
1890-1920, bulk 1907-1920.
- Extent: 1.5 linear ft. (4 boxes).
- McLaurin, Lauch, 1854-1920. A professor of law at the
University of Texas School of Law (1907-1920), Judge Lauch McLaurin
(1854-1920) was born in Simpson County, Mississippi, and privately
educated in Hinds County and Brandon, Mississippi. Graduating from the
University of Mississippi with a B.A. degree in 1874, McLaurin studied
with Gen. Robert Lowery for the bar which he passed at the age of 21.
Setting up practice in Port Gibson, Mississippi in 1876, McLaurin became
the youngest man ever appointed to the office of Chancellor (1883-1890).
In 1890 he resigned the office of Chancellor of the 10th District of
Mississippi to move to Dallas where he established a corporate law
practice with Judge Bookhut and later with Gen. A.P. Wozencraft. Their
clients included Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Company and
Postal Telegraph-Cable Company. In 1907 McLaurin resigned from his
lucrative private practice to accept an appointment to teach law at the
University of Texas which he continued to do until his death on Dec. 21,
1920. McLaurin and his wife, Ida Steven McLaurin, had no surviving
children.
- Scope and Content: The bulk of the collection consists of
McLaurin's course materials for Commerical Paper (1911-1920),
Constitutional Law (1910-1920), Municipal Corporations (1909-1920), and
Suretyship and Guaranty (1911-1920). Of particular interest are the
materials from the investigation of Dr. Albert Benedict Wolfe of the
University of Texas Department of Economics and Sociology on charges of
promoting socialism and free love. Included are correspondence, the
transcript of the proceedings, McLaurin's personal notes and draft of
the committee report, and the findings of the investigating committee
(1920). McLaurin's personal papers consist primarily of financial
records, insurance policies, and materials relating to his real estate
holdings in Dallas, Texas (1890-1920) including tax bills and receipts,
statements of account, and deeds. Of note is the T. Richardson
correspondence (1920) in which Richardson, a 72-year old postal worker
in Boston, former Black Republican and principal of the black school in
Port Gibson, Mississippi, appealed to McLaurin to help him obtain the
federal pension denied him by the postal service. The papers of Tom
Scurry, a law student who lived briefly with the McLaurins in the spring
of 1919, are also included in the collection.
- Arrangement: As with other men of his era, McLaurin bundled
his papers in used envelopes or secured them with string or rubber
bands. Correspondence, financial records, and legal documents are often
arranged together to maintain the original order of his papers.
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Law School subject vertical files, 1897- [ongoing], bulk ca. 1940-present.
- Extent: 14 linear ft. (34 boxes).
- 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. Materials include biographical source 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.
Law school photograph
collection, 1883-[ongoing] .
- Extent: About 300 photographs and negatives.
- 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.
Records of the Legal Eagles
football team, 1955-[ongoing].
- Extent: 0.3 linear ft. 21 color photographs.
- 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.
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Bryant Smith papers,
1933-1973.
- Extent: 10 items.
- Smith, Bryant, 1888-1973. A professor of law, University of
Texas, 1926-1939, Bryant Smith received his LL.B. from the University of
Colorado (1916) and a J.S.D. from Yale University (1927). Before coming
to Texas he taught law at the University of Colorado (1919-20) and
Washington University (1920-26), and taught at Arizona after leaving
Texas. He taught and published in constitutional law and a variety of
property and business law topics.
- Scope and Content: Materials include: text of a speech
Bryant gave in 1933(?) to the graduating class of his alma mater,
Guilford College, N.C.; typescript draft of "The Menace of the Years",
which was published in POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY 54:2 (June 1939),
161-174; correspondence and partial typescript drafts for a work
critical of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education
decision and racial integration in general, entitled "Racial
Contradictions and Paradoxes" and/or "The National Conscience and
Southern Wrong", which was rejected in 1964 by Bobbs-Merrill Co.
Photocopies of originals.
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