Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the School of Law of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40046, University Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Periodic transfer from the offices that create these records.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

• Education, Higher--North Carolina--History.
• Law schools--North Carolina.
• Law--Study and teaching--North Carolina.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--Departments.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Graduate work.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). School of Law.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Graduate work.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. School of Law.

On 12 December 1842, the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of a Law Professorship, and on 3 October 1845, Judge William Horn Battle was selected to fill that position as head of the university's Law Department. In 1843, Battle had opened a private law school in Chapel Hill, and from 1845 through January 1879, he taught the university's College Class as well as his Independent Class in the school. Battle's salary was provided from the tuition paid by his law students. University President Kemp Plummer Battle succeeded his father as Professor of Law in 1879 and served until 1881, when John Manning was elected to fill the professorship. Manning was successful in securing an Assistant Professorship for the department in 1898. In August 1899, the Board of Trustees resolved to fully incorporate the Law Department into the university as the School of Law, and James Cameron MacRae was chosen as Dean and Professor of Law.

Before 1907 the department/school was housed in various campus buildings. In 1907, with the removal of the Library to new quarters, Smith Hall became the home of the School of Law. In 1923, the school moved to the recently completed Manning Hall, which it occupied until 1968, when Van Hecke-Wettach Hall was completed.

For a more detailed history of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, see Robert H. Wettach, editor, A Century of Legal Education (Chapel Hill, 1947), as well as the Board of Trustee Minutes, President's Records, Chancellor's Records, Provost's Records, and the University of North Carolina Papers in the University Archives.

Correspondence and other files relating to the administration of and programs in the School of Law.