The Tarlton Law Library’s physical facility, including Special Collections, is closed until further notice. Tarlton’s librarians and staff remain actively engaged in providing library services. Student tech support (techdesk@law.utexas.edu) and faculty and student reference assistance (https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/email) will be available during business hours. Students can also consult our Library and Technology Support FAQ (https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/student-remote) for most frequently needed information.
The Tarlton Law Library maintains over 5,000 linear feet of archives for the purpose of historical research. The Library holds records of enduring value created by The University of Texas School of Law, as well as the papers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark and the Uniform Law Commission, collections of several Texas Supreme Court justices and federal judges, and many University of Texas School of Law alumni, faculty, and deans. These remarkable collections provide materials relevant to legal history and the history of legal education in Texas and the United States.
Finding aids for many of our archival collections are available via Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO), a consortium of the major research archives in Texas. The links below navigate to detailed finding aids for each collection.
Tom C. Clark, the first Texan to serve on the United States Supreme Court, earned his law degree from the University of Texas in 1922. He joined the Justice Department in 1937 and rose through the ranks. President Truman appointed him U.S. Attorney General in 1945 and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1949. Clark resigned from the Court in 1967 when his son, Ramsey Clark, was appointed Attorney General. Following his retirement, Clark served as the first Chairman of the Federal Judiciary Center and accepted assignments to sit by designation on various United States Courts of Appeal until his death on June 13, 1977.
The Tom C. Clark Papers include over 500 linear feet of case files, correspondence, literary productions, speeches, printed material, political cartoons, artifacts, scrapbooks and photographs, which include a virtually complete record of Clark's 18 years as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1949-1967).
Guide to the Tom C. Clark Papers
Papers of Justice Tom. C. Clark: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Cases of the U.S. Supreme Court
Native American War Bonnets from the Tom C. Clark Archive
The primary goal of Tarlton Law Library's archival collection is to collect, preserve, and make available the records of enduring value created by The University of Texas School of Law for the purpose of historical research. These permanently valuable records from the 19th century to the present day detail the history and events of the School of Law. Materials include Law School catalogs, yearbooks, course directories, programs and announcements, newsletters and magazines. The papers of several Law School faculty members and deans are also maintained in Special Collections. These archives provide insights into legal education, the history of the Law School, and national affairs. Related archives include Law School organizations, the Law School Photograph Collection, and the Faculty Writings Collection.
John C. Townes Papers (1887-1923)
Ira Polk Hildebrand Papers (1883-1944)
Charles T. McCormick Papers (1911-1964)
W. Page Keeton Papers (1938-1995)
M. Michael Sharlot Papers (1958-1995)
Hans W. Baade Papers (1297-2004)
Leo G. Blackstock Papers (1929-1979)
Woodfin L. Butte Papers (1957, 1977-1978)
David B. Filvaroff Papers (1976-1979)
T. J. Gibson Papers (1949-1986)
Robert Simonton Gould Letters to Thomas Watt Gregory (1893)
Leon Green Papers (1912-1978)
Helen Hargrave Papers (1919-1978)
Robert E. Mathews Papers (1917-1980)
Millard H. Ruud Papers (1939-1996)
Robert W. Stayton Papers (1934-1950)
George W. Stumberg Papers (1909-1964)
Bernard J. Ward Papers (ca. 1954-1982)
Charles Alan Wright Papers (1880-2004) [Bulk 1947-1999]
UT School of Law History Files (1889-1992, undated)
Law School Photographs of Cary Hazlegrove (1992-1999)
Law School Notebooks of Henry Gilchrist (1927-1974) [Bulk 1948-1950]
Dudley K. Woodward Papers (1917-1968)
Delta Theta Phi Fraternity Collection (1979-1985)
Records of Kappa Beta Pi Legal Sorority (1924-1969)
Law Wives Club Records (1947-1976)
Legal Eagles Records (1955-1997)
Texas Law Review Records (1922-1981)
Many of the archives held in Special Collections chronicle the outstanding contributions that Law School alumni have made to the legal institutions of Texas. The collections contain valuable materials relevant to legal history and the history of legal education in Texas.
Frank Lee Hawkins Papers (1926-1944)
W. St. John Garwood Papers (1917-1982)
Harry N. Graves Papers (1938)
Joe R. Greenhill, Sr. Papers (1934-2008) [Bulk 1957-2007]
Oscar H. Mauzy Papers (1986-1992)
James W. McClendon Papers (1912-1967)
Wright C. Morrow papers (1922-1942)
Ted Z. Robertson Papers (1953-2010)
Graham B. Smedley Papers (1913-1954)
Rose Spector Papers (1990-1999)
Texas Jurists Collection (1936-1992) (See also Texas Jurists image collection and related Justices of Texas digital exhibit)
Pickett Family Papers (1898-1899; 1902-1951; 1838-1996)
Ex parte McCormick Papers [et al.] (1935)
Ireland Graves Papers (1883-1945)
Reporter's Record, Yates v. State of Texas (2002-2003)
J. Edwin Smith papers (1937-1995)
Submerged Lands Briefs (1945-1957)
Texas Civil Judicial Council Records (1938-1947)
Texas Penal Code Revision Commission (ca. 1964-1974)
Texas v. Hidalgo County Water Control and Improvement District No. 18 (1963-1966)
Other collections in the archive have a national scope, including the papers of federal judges or those collections concerning U.S. legal history.
Norman W. Black Papers (1953-1997)
Emilio M. Garza Papers (1991-2012)
Joseph C. Hutcheson Jr. Papers (1853-1979)
William Wayne Justice Papers (1951-2009) (see also related digital exhibit)
Judge Mallory B. Blair's Nuremberg Justice Trial Notebooks (1887-1962)
Paul Carrington Papers (1927-1967)
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 Files (1991-1998)
John J. Greer Papers (1945-1948)
Joseph D. Jamail Pennzoil v. Texaco Papers (1984-1987)
Harold J. "Tex" Lezar Papers (1961-1998)
Larry Temple United States Supreme Court Memos Collection (1959-1960)
Select Watergate Court Documents
U.S. Supreme Court Nominations Research Files (1823-1955)