Inventory of the Papers of John B. Minor1845-1893; 1974 MSS 79-8 MSS.79.8 Minor, John B., Papers, 1845-1893; 1974MSS 79-8

Inventory of the Papers of John B. Minor1845-1893; 1974 MSS 79-8 MSS.79.8

Minor, John B., Papers, 1845-1893; 1974
collectionnumber MSS 79-8


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Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections

Arthur J. Morris Law Library
580 Massie Road
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
archives@law.virginia.edu
URL: http://archives.law.virginia.edu/

Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Repository
Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections
Identification
MSS.79.8
Title
The Papers of John B. Minor, 1845 - 1893 1845-1893
URL:
https://archives.lib.virginia.edu/ark:/59853/146296
Quantity
.3 Linear Feet, 1 archival box
Quantity
Creator
Minor, John B., 1813-1895
Language
English .
Abstract
Small collection of historical importance to the history of the University of Virginia School of Law. Contains teaching materials, legal documents, correspondence and some memorabilia.

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Papers of John B. Minor, MSS 79-8, Special Collections, University of Virginia Law Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The items in this collection have been collected by the law library over a number of years. Some were found in books, and some were probably given by family members or alumni. The bulk of Minor's papers was donated to Alderman Library by his family.

In 2014, John N. Jacob, archivist and special collections law librarian at Washington and Lee School of Law donated the last item added to these papers.


Biographical / Historical

John B. Minor was born in 1813 in Louisa County, Virginia, and educated by his well-read family at home. At age seventeen, he went off to Kenyon College in Ohio to study moral and natural philosophy. Dissatisfied there, he left after a year and enrolled at the University of Virginia in 1831 where, over the next three years, he studied ancient and modern languages, mathematics, chemistry, and law. His parents and older brother were strongly supportive of his studies, and encouraged him to be a disciplined and serious-minded student. He, like only eight other law students from a total of forty-four, passed the final examinations and graduated in 1834. During his college years Minor also found time to tutor Professor Davis's children and to fall in love with his future wife, Davis's sister, Martha.

After graduation, Minor practiced law in Botetourt County and Charlottesville, but he was quite eager to give up practice and try teaching when he learned, in 1845, that the University's Board of Visitors was searching for a law professor. Their first choice turned them down, and on 29 July, the Board appointed thirty-two year old Minor to the professorship.

In October, Minor began teaching and rigorously followed the traditional curriculum. Student notes indicate that his Blackstone lectures followed Davis's in plan and emphasis. His first innovation was the moot court, which provided students a structured introduction to local, state, and federal practice. Enrollment in Minor's classes was low at first, dropping to eighteen his second year, and then rising to sixty-one by 1850. In the spring of 1851, Minor received a letter from James P. Holcombe, a legal scholar from Cincinnati, who wrote Minor that he had a great interest in teaching at the University if an adjunct professorship could be created for him. Minor explained to the Board of Visitors that he found the current teaching arrangement "far short of satisfying my own ideas of what is to be desired," since he felt the curriculum was too wide for one person to cover. Holcombe accepted the light teaching load and low salary initially offered by the University, and began teaching in October 1851. Within a year, the two men had revised the curriculum and the number of students enrolled in law steadily climbed through the 1850s. As he had proposed, Holcombe enhanced the curriculum by offering expanded lectures in commercial and civil law, as well as equity. Minor concentrated on common and statute law.

By 1860, Minor and Holcombe had 142 students. The following year Holcombe, an outspoken advocate of secession, resigned to run for the state legislature, and Minor carried on alone during the war with just five or six students per year. In 1866, Stephen O. Southall, who had studied law under John A.G. Davis and practiced ever since in Prince Edward County, was hired to replace Holcombe. By 1867, there were over one hundred law students once again, a post-war boost in enrollment the Law School would also experience in the twentieth century. After the war the number of graduates also rose. Soon after the war, Minor worked closely with officials in Richmond to set up the state's first free public education system. His dedication to this long overdue legislation testifies to Minor's commitment to the widest possible education. We may assume that these efforts grew in part from his concern over University students' lack of preparation.

In 1875 Minor published the first two volumes of the Institutes of Common and Statute Law , followed quickly by volumes three and four. The publication of the Institutes was certainly one of the high points of Minor's career and established him as the leading legal scholar in the South. Always enterprising, Minor in his late fifties started a private summer law course designed as an introduction for novices and a refresher for practicing lawyers. Immensely popular, this course attracted scores of students each summer. After the post- war boom, the number of regular law students dropped slightly, but then steadied to an average of 83 per class between 1875 and 1895. About 30% of those students were awarded LL.B. degrees.

Stephen Southall died suddenly in 1884 and was succeeded by James H. Gilmore the following year. By this time, Minor was in his seventies. Although he would continue to teach year-round until the end, he was slowing down. As soon as his sons, John B., Jr., and Raleigh, passed their law exams in the early 1890s, they were hired to assist their father in his classes. Minor's fiftieth year at the University was celebrated in early July of 1895, and he died later that same month.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes lectures and other teaching materials, correspondence, clippings and other printed matter, legal documents, an appraisal of enslaved people, a commonplace book, and a recipe for making indelible ink.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

  • Appleton, Daniel, 1785-1849
  • Chancellorsville, Battle of, Chancellorsville, Va., 1863
  • Colston, Raleigh E., 1825-1896
  • Commonplace books
  • Minor, John B., 1813-1895
  • Minor, Raleigh C., 1869-1923
  • Mosby, Charles L., 1807-1879
  • Pierpoint, Francis F., 1814-1899
  • Slavery--United States--History--19th Century
  • Stanton, Edwin M., 1814-1869
  • clippings (information artifacts)

Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

  • Appleton, Daniel, 1785-1849
  • Colston, Raleigh E., 1825-1896
  • Minor, John B., 1813-1895
  • Minor, Raleigh C., 1869-1923
  • Mosby, Charles L., 1807-1879
  • Pierpoint, Francis F., 1814-1899
  • Stanton, Edwin M., 1814-1869

Container List

Papers of John B. Minor, MSS 79-8
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Lawyers' Commonplace Book and 25 loose pages of handwritten notes on cases
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "The idea expressed in the extract from the Staunton Spectator"
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Liability of Transferor of Negotiable Papers without Endorsement, case stated by Chas. M. Blackford, Esq. of Lynchburg, Nov. 5, 1857
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Topics for the Board [of Visitors]
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "A bill has been presented to both branches of the General Assembly..."
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Drafts of three letters of recommendation for former students
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Topic of Enquiry suggested by Dr. Geo. Potts of New York in a letter addressed to Dr. McGuffey touching the University of Virginia
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "Plan of battles of Chancelloresville from Thursday, April 30 to Monday May 4
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Copy of a poem or ballad sent to JBM
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Page [from a copybook?] on which are copied two passages about religion
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "The University in Court" by Raleigh C. Minor
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    List of Cases
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Recipe for "Indelible Black Writing Ink"
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Statement for the Faculty of JBM's ideas
    n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from JBM to John Manning with note to "Dear Judge" from Manning
    1893 Feb. 18
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from JBM to A.T. Browning, with receipt and envelope
    1893 Jan. 31
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Draft of letter to Stephen O. Southall
    1888 Mar. 10
  • Autographed photograph of JBM
    1884 Oct. 1
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    [JBM] to Mr. McGowan
    1878
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from [?] Flannagan to JBM
    1877 Aug. 20
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from Baker, Voorhis and Co. [law booksellers] to JBM
    1877 Aug. 14
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Review of Minor's Institutes of Common and Statute Law, Vol. I, 2nd ed., and Vol. II from The Central Law Journal
    1877 May 4
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Copy of and correspondence and notes regarding Maria A. Wise's will
    1974
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from E.R. Watson to [John B.] Minor, with Minor's comments on the back
    1870 Sep. 7
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Correspondence, notes, brochures
    1867-1868
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from Raleigh Colston to JBM
    1891 Mar. 20
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from Charles L. Mosby to Governor F.H. Pierpoint
    1866 Apr. 25
  • Miscellany
    1865, n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "Some Consideration Tending to Show the Propriety and Necessity of the Continued Support of the University of Virginia by the State"
    1865
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Amnesty oath sworn by JBM
    1865-05-18
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Draft of a letter by Minor to his former classmate, Edward Stanton, Secretary of War
    1865-05-06
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Bill and receipt for the Albermarle Committee for the Wounded, JBM Treasurer
    1864
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Appraisal of slaves for the estate of C[harles] Minor upon the request of Franklin and JBM
    1861 Dec. 12
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Draft of letter in Minor's hand; addressee unknown
    1861-01-30
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    "Proposed Law Course, with estimate of time allowed to each subject"
    1851
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Printed sheet describing course of law as taught by JBM and J.P. Holcombe; includes reading lists and costs of tuition, room and board
    1851 July 11
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Resolution [by Board of Visitors] to hire James P. Holcombe, Adjunct Professor of Law
    1851 June
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Legal Cases with Minor's comments probably used in his teaching
    1850-1860
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Newspaper clippings; advertisement for law books
    1850, 1880
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Lists of Books
    1849-50, n.d.
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Letter from D. Appleton to John B. Minor (JBM)
    1848-08-11
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Inaugural Lecture: "Gentleman of the School of Law..."
    1845 Oct.
Addendum to the Papers of John B. Minor, MSS 79-8a
Scope and Contents

Two documents: JBM letter and contract concerning Minor's Institutes, 1877

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred to Law Library in 1973 by R. McLean Whittet, Sr. of Whittet & Shepperson [printers] in Richmond, VA. See correspondence with Frances Farmer in accession folder.

  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    JBM to Robert Whittet, Esq.
    1877 May 31
  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    Contract between Whittet Shepperson and JBM
    1881-11-04
Addendum to the Papers of John B. Minor, MSS 79-8b
Immediate Source of Acquisition

This letter was a gift of John N. Jacob, archivist and special collections librarian at Washington and Lee School of Law in November 2014.

  • Mixed Materials [35007008142527] MSS 79-8, Box 1
    JBM to R. H. Wood Esq. in Bolivar, Ten. : "Hints about Books."
    1877-10-10