Rare Books & Special Collections
The Tarlton Law Library began collecting oral history interviews in 1986, when a grant from the Texas Sesquicentennial Commission enabled the Library to conduct five oral history interviews. The interviewees were all graduates of The University of Texas School of Law whose careers shaped the Law School and the legal history of Texas: Robert Calvert, Joe R. Greenhill, Sr., and Jack Pope as Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas, W. Page Keeton as the long-time dean of the Law School, and Gus M. Hodges as one of the school's most colorful professors.
Collecting oral histories carries with it the obligations to preserve the interviews and make them available to the public. The Law Library decided on publication of the interview transcripts as the most effective means of fulfilling these obligations. It has published the five interviews collected in 1986, and a 1996 interview with the late Professor Corwin W. Johnson. Several more interviews and publications are forthcoming. See also: Texas Legal History: A Survey of Oral History Resources
Interview descriptions were compiled by Abigail Schultz and Adrienne Sonder.
Baade, Hans
: UT School of Law professor, 1971 - present; expert on comparative and international law; legal historian.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, 2002.
Topics: Childhood; legal education; relationship with Page Keeton; teaching career; legal history interests; family; changes at the UT School of Law; colleagues; School of Law traditions.
Availability: Published transcript is available for purchase
online.
Calvert, Robert W.
(1905-1994): Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives;
Texas Supreme Court Associate Justice (1950-1961), Chief Justice (1961-1972); Class of 1931, UT School of Law.
Topics: Childhood; legal education; tenure on the Texas Supreme
Court; Texas politics; judicial elections; his service as chairman of
the State Democratic Executive Committee.
Interviewer: H.W. Brands, 1985-1986
Availability: Texas Supreme Court Trilogy, Vol. 1 : Oral
History Interview with the Honorable Robert W. Calvert (Austin : Jamail
Center for Legal Research, 1998). Available in the Law
Library or for
purchase online.
Clark, Tom C. (1899-1977)
: U.S. Attorney General, 1946-1949; U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1949-1967; Class of
1922, UT School of Law.
Interviewers: Joe B. Frantz, 1969; Jerry Ness, 1972; Robert
Ireland, 1973; W.D. Stilley & Jerald L. Hill, 1976.
Topics: Relationships with Presidents LBJ, Roosevelt, and
Truman; tenure as U.S. Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice;
public reactions to Supreme Court decisions; Brown v. Board of
Education.
Availability: Unpublished transcripts in Rare Books &
Special Collections. Links to online versions are available from our Survey of Oral History Resources page.
Dawson, Robert O. (1940-2005)
: UT School of Law professor 1967-2005, expert in Texas criminal practice and procedure and Texas juvenile law, co-founder of the UT Criminal Defense Clinic and the Actual Innocence Clinic.
Interviewer: Pat Hazel, 2004
Topics: Childhood; legal education; work in the field of juvenile justice and criminal justice; the role of clinics in legal education; the UT Criminal Defense Clinic; the Actual Innocence Project; other clinics at the UT School of Law; interests outside the School of Law.
Availability: Published transcript is available for purchase
online.
DeAnda, James
: Judge and chief judge of U. S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1979-1992; Class of 1950, UT School of Law.
Interviewers: Members of the Chicano-Hispanic Law Students Association, April 7, 2000.
Topics: His experience as a Hispanic in the legal profession in the 1950s; early cases he tried; his civil rights work; Heman Sweatt; discrimination in the court system; changes in the legal profession; decision to become a lawyer.
Availability: Publication forthcoming in the Tarlton Law Library Oral History Series. Unpublished transcript in Rare Books & Special Collections.
Greenhill, Joe R., Sr. (1914
- ) : Assistant Texas Attorney General, 1947-1950; Texas Supreme Court
Justice 1957-1982; Class of 1939, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: H.W. Brands, 1986.
Topics: Childhood; legal education; contributions to Sweat v.
Painter; private law practice; election to Texas Supreme Court; judicial
elections; his colleagues.
Availability: Texas Supreme Court Trilogy, Vol. 2 : Oral
History Interview with the Honorable Joe R. Greenhill (Austin : Jamail
Center for Legal Research, 1998). Available in the Law
Library or for
purchase online.
Hargrave, Helen (1919-1978)
: UT Law librarian, 1940-1965; first woman law professor at UT.
Interviewer: Barry Gilbert, 1979
Topics: Growth and changes of the Law Library and the Law School; moving the Law Library into a new building; women and the Law School; planning the law library for TSUN (Texas Southern University for Negroes); meeting Pancho Villa; Prof. W.S. Simkins.
Availability: Unpublished transcript in Rare Books & Special Collections.
Hodges, Gus M.
(1908-1992) : UT School of Law professor; authority on Texas civil
procedure; Class of 1932, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: H.W. Brands, 1986.
Topics: Childhood; education; reflections on legal education
and the growth of UT School of Law School.
Availability: Gus M. Hodges: An Oral History Interview (Austin
: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2003). Available in the Law Library
or
for purchase online.
Hodges, Gus M. (1908-1992) : UT School of Law professor; authority on Texas civil
procedure; Class of 1932, UT School of Law / Gibson, T.J. (1918-1985)
: Assistant dean and associate dean of students, UT School of Law,1956-1984; Class of 1948, UT School of Law.
Interviewers: Gus Hodges in a conversation with T.J. Gibson.
Topics: Reminiscences about the UT School of Law.
Availability: Unpublished transcript available in Rare Books & Special Collections.
Horton, Hal C.
: Secretary to Sam Rayburn; Interstate Commerce Commission attorney; Colonel and Brigadier General in the Texas National Guard; Class of 1910, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: Self-dictated, 1964
Topics: Reminiscences about the School of Law, the University in general, and what it was like living in Austin in the early part of the century
Availability: Unpublished transcript available in Rare Books & Special Collections.
Jamail, Joseph D.
: Noted Texas trial attorney; won the largest verdict in history at the time; Class of 1953, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, 2004.
Topics: Memories of UT School of Law; professors and classmates; the people who have influenced him; his early career; several memorable cases he tried.
Availability: Joseph D. Jamail: An Oral History Interview (Austin: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2005). Available
in the Law Library or for
purchase online.
Johnson, Corwin W.
(1917-2004) : UT School of Law professor 1947-2004. Expert in land
use, real property and water rights law.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, Nov. 15, 1996.
Topics: career at UT School of Law, Sweatt v. Painter,
McDougal-Haber casebook controversy, song "The Common Law of Texas,"
views on curriculum, faculty, and students.
Availability: Corwin W. Johnson: An Oral History Interview
(Austin : Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2003). Available in the Law
Library or
for purchase online.
Keeton, W. Page
(1909-1999) : UT School of Law professor and Dean; Class of 1931, UT
School of Law.
Interviewer: H.W. Brands, 1986.
Topics: Education; student life; teaching at UT School of Law ;
creation of the UT School of Law School Foundation; development of UT School of Law faculty;
relationship with UT Regent Frank Erwin; tort law.
Availability: W. Page Keeton: An Oral History Interview (Austin
: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 1992). Available in the Law
Library or
for purchase online.
Lebowitz, J. Leon
: UT School of Law professor of corporations law, civil procedure and securities regulation, 1955-2000.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, 2001.
Topics: Childhood; history of Baylor Law School and of legal education in Texas; Baylor classmates; military service during World War II; teaching career; family; Austin and The University in the 1950s; recollections about the School of Law staff and facilities.
Availability: Published transcript is available for purchase
online.
Mauzy, Oscar H.
(1926-2000) : Texas State Senator; Texas Supreme Court
Justice, 1986-1992; Class of 1952, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, April 16 and May 17, 1996.
Topics: Education; student life; effects of Sweatt v. Painter;
his tenure as a state senator; his views on Hopwood v. Texas.
Availability: Publication forthcoming in the Tarlton Law Library Oral History Series. Unpublished transcript in Rare Books & Special Collections.
McCartney, James W.
(1929 - ) : Senior Partner at Vinson & Elkins;
specialized in oil and gas law and arbitration law; Class of 1952, UT
School of Law.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, December 4, 1996.
Topics: His family's law school connections; Law School
Foundation; McDougal-Haber casebook controversy; Heman Sweatt and Virgil
Lott; law professors and students; important cases he worked on.
Availability: Publication forthcoming in the Tarlton Law Library Oral History Series. Unpublished transcript in Rare Books & Special Collections.
Pope, Jack (1913 - ):
Associate Justice and Chief Justice of Texas Supreme Court, 1964-1985; Class of
1937, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: H.W. Brands, 1985-1986, 1992.
Topics: Family history; education; early legal career; judicial
service, judicial elections; his colleagues; the case Valmont Plantation
v. Texas.
Availability: Texas Supreme Court Trilogy, Vol. 3 : Oral
History Interview with the Honorable Jack Pope (Austin : Jamail Center
for Legal Research, 1998). Available in the Law
Library or for
purchase online.
Reasoner, Harry M.
: Managing Partner at Vinson & Elkins; Class of 1962, UT School of Law.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, 2004.
Topics: Childhood; undergraduate education; law school professors and classmates; early career in law; time spent as a Rotary scholar in London; clerkship with Judge Charles E. Clark; important cases he's tried.
Availability: Harry M. Reasoner: An Oral History Interview (Austin: Jamail Center for Legal Research, 2005). Available in
the Law Library or for
purchase online.
Smith, J. Edwin
(1911-2001) : Noted Texas attorney; active member of
Democratic Party; Class of 1937, UT School of Law.
Interviewers: Chandler Davidson, 1990; Patti Wenk, 1994.
Topics: Early years; legal career; 1956 Texas Supreme Court
campaign; Texas Democratic Party; federal judicial appointments.
Availability: Unpublished transcript in Rare Books &
Special Collections.
Weintraub, Russell J. : UT School of Law professor, 1965- ; expert on the conflict of laws.
Interviewer: Sheree Scarborough, 2002.
Topics: Childhood; legal education; teaching career; cases he worked on; UT School of Law in the 1960s; family; working with Page Keeton; colleagues; his publications; work with the Texas Legislature.
Availability: Publication forthcoming in the Tarlton Law Library Oral History Series. Unpublished transcript in Rare Books & Special Collections.
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