E.L. McNeilly Robertson Academy legal correspondence, 1930-1934.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Housed in Small Collections Box 2.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Abstract: Correspondence, 1930-1934, from lawyers E.L. McNeilly and Henry E. Colton to Joseph Thompson, president of the Board of Trustees of Robertson Academy, concerning land ownership.

Scope and content: Documents contain a copy of extensive legal research performed by E.L. McNeilly in 1911 and forwarded to Joseph Thompson in 1930, concerning the legal status of the land where Robertson Academy was built and the relationship of land ownership to its use as a school. This research begins with the establishment of the academy in 1806 by an act of the Tennessee General Assembly, and continues forward through various laws concerning academies in general throughout the state, as well as individual acts relating to Robertson Academy. Deed research relating to the property is also included, which mentions among other things, the use of a spring on Jesse Maxwell's land by Robertson Academy students. The use of this spring, and the ownership of the property in general where the school is located, is dependent upon the property being used for educational purposes. Correspondence from attorneys McNeilly and Henry E. Colton to Thompson in the early 1930s seems to indicate that Thompson may have inquired about whether or not the trustees can sell or dispose of the land, and under what circumstances.

Cite as: E.L. McNeilly Robertson Academy Legal Correspondence, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library.

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)

Joe Thompson Jr.;,Gift;,1999.,Acc. RT-193.

E.L. McNeilly was a Nashville, Tenn. lawyer, and served on the Board of Directors of the Nashville Bar Association in 1931. Henry E. Colton was a Nashville attorney in the 1930s. Joseph Thompson Sr. served as chief law agent for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, and was chairman of the Board of Trustees of Robertson Academy when the school burned around 1932. The school was on property originally owned by the Thompson and Overton families.

In English.

Process;,2006;,Linda Barnickel;,removed from Schools Ephemera Subject Files.

No further accruals are expected.