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Guide to the Paul L. Sayre Papers

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Collection Overview
Date Span: 1904-1962
Creator: Sayre, Paul L. (1894-1959)
Extent: 3.50 linear feet.
Collection Number: RG99.0262
Repository: University of Iowa Archives
Summary: Professor, University of Iowa College of Law, from 1930 until his death in 1959. Lecturer on divorce laws, and founder of the National Council on Family Relations. Correspondence and manuscript drafts.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs: Box 6

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: These materials were donated to the University Archives by Mrs. Sayre in February 1960 and later from the College of Law. Guide created and posted to the Internet by Denise Anderson, April 2007.

Preferred Citation: Paul L. Sayre Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository: University of Iowa Archives
Address: 100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: 319-335-5921
Curator: David McCartney
Email: david-mccartney@uiowa.edu
Website: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/archives

Paul Lombard Sayre was born July 26, 1894, in Hinsdale, Illinois. He attended University High School in Chicago, and the Teacher School in Ojai, California. Sayre received his A.B. (B.A.) degree at Harvard in 1916. He took his J.D. degree in 1920 from the University of Chicago, was admitted to the Illinois bar that same year, and practiced law in Illinois until 1924. He took his S.J.D. degree in 1925 from Harvard Law School. From 1925 until 1928, he served as professor of law at Indiana University. Sayre was a research fellow from 1928 to 1929, and in 1930 he lectured on civil procedure at Harvard Law School, before joining the faculty at the University of Iowa College of Law that same year. At Iowa, Professor Sayre's lectures focused on family problems and divorce laws, and he founded the National Council on Family Relations in 1937. He also served on the editorial board of the Iowa Bar Review. He married Grace Geyer, and the couple had three children. Paul Sayre died August 10, 1959.

This collection contains correspondence and manuscript drafts written during Paul Sayre's tenure as professor of law at the University of Iowa. Sayre wrote a biography of Harvard law professor Roscoe Pound, and the correspondence in Sayre's papers includes approximately 100 pages written by Roscoe Pound to his friend, Omer Hershey, between 1892 and 1893. Sayre was a student of Roscoe Pound at Harvard. Nearly one linear foot of this collection is material relating to the Roscoe Pound biography, and there are five linear inches of Sayre family correspondence.
University of Iowa College of Law records (RG14.0002.001).

Folder, "Sayer, Paul L.," in Faculty and Staff Vertical Files collection (RG01.0015.003).

Browse by Series:
Series 1: CORRESPONDENCE
Series 2: WRITINGS
Series 3: COURSES

  • Series 1: CORRESPONDENCE
  • Box 1:
  • Correspondence, Sayre family - 1904-1954
  • Sayre correspondence - 1911-1954
  • Box 2:
  • Correspondence, incoming - 1943
  • Correspondence, incoming - 1944
  • Miscellaneous correspondence, n.d.
    2 folders
  • Miscellaneous correspondence - 1946
  • Miscellaneous correspondence - 1947
    2 folders
  • Box 3:
  • Correspondence regarding farms - 1940-1949
    11 folders
  • Box 4:
  • Correspondence about North Dakota farm sale - 1930-1959
    10 folders
  • Series 2: WRITINGS
  • Box 5:
  • Christmas readings - 1959
  • Love of the Good, n.d.
    2 folders
  • How to Experience Worthy Living, n.d.
  • Justice, n.d.
    2 folders
  • Justice book insertions - 1958-1959
    Original
  • Justice
    Original
  • Correspondence about Justice
  • Correspondence with Mason Ladd, Dean UI College of Law - 1943-1946
  • Correspondence about Adventures of Bozo - 1940-1957
  • Box 6:
  • Letters contributing to Roscoe Pound biography
    2 folders
  • Pound volume
    Includes photographs and negatives
  • Correspondence regarding corrections in essays in honor of Dean Pound
  • Correspondence, volume in Legal Philosophy Committee, in honor of Dean Pound
    2 folders
  • Correspondence regarding Roscoe Pound biography
    2 folders
  • Correspondence, volume in Legal Philosophy, Olivia Pound and Dean Pound
  • Correspondence, Oxford University Press - 1946
  • Correspondence regarding proof, all authors
  • Correspondence, Roscoe Pound, Olivia Pound
  • Box 7:
  • Roscoe Pound biography
    2 folders
  • Correspondence of Roscoe Pound
  • Pound letters
  • Report to Ministry of Justice
  • Roscoe Pound introduction
  • “The Letters of Roscoe Pound, Esquire” September-December - 1892
  • “The Letters of Roscoe Pound, Esquire” January-February - 1893
  • “The Letters of Roscoe Pound, Esquire” March-April - 1893
  • “The Letters of Roscoe Pound, Esquire” May-June - 1893
  • “The Letters of Roscoe Pound, Esquire” July-August - 1893
  • Book reviews - 1953-1955
  • Series 3: COURSES
  • Box 8:
  • Family relations topics
  • Correspondence - 1937-1958
  • Newspaper clippings - 1944-1962
  • Iowa Advocate newsletter of the Iowa Law Student Association - 1958
  • Virginia Law Weekly newsletter - 1950
  • Domestic relations courses
  • Correspondence - 1948
  • National conference - 1946
  • Newspaper clippings - 1948
  • Domestic Relations, selected essays and correspondence - 1950-1951
  • Interpretation of Legal Philosophy, correspondence - 1944-1945
    2 folders
  • Interpretation of Legal Philosophy, correspondence - 1945-1946
  • Correspondence - 1945-1947
  • Law School, correspondence - 1950-1952

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.


Personal Names:
Pound, Roscoe, 1870-1964
Sayre, Paul Lombard, 1894-1959

Corporate Names:
Harvard Law School
Mid-century White House Conference on Children and Youth (1950: Washington, D.C.

Topics:
Justice
Domestic relations
Farm tenancy
Law

Occupations:
Law teachers
Child welfare workers

Geographic Names:
United States -- Iowa
United States -- North Dakota

Genre/Form of Materials:
Photographs

Browse:
University of Iowa Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Associates' Papers
University of Iowa College of Law