Minnesota Legal Aid Director, 1925-1930

National Legal Aid meeting, Denver, Colo. Sept. 4-5, 1930 Pirsig, 4th from Left (click to enlarge)

Pirsig, served as director of the Minnesota Legal Aid Society from 1925-1930. 24-29 years old. In the Minnesota Supreme Court Library Interview below, he said, 

"I saw how the legal system worked, and failed to work in many instances, and that led me to reflect on what is the function of the law, how does it work, what do we do about it when it doesn't work." 

Photo - Pirsig at his Legal Aid office desk, mid 1920's

Pirsig's Judicial Administration Course, 1934-1992

Pirsig's course brochure, c. 1948 (click to enlarge)

In 1928 the University of Minnesota Law School's dean, Everett Fraser, chose Maynard E. Pirsig to create a new course. Pirsig spent a year at the Harvard Law School and a year in London with a barrister in order to develop the Judicial Administration Course which he taught from 1934 until 1992. In 1959 Dean Fraser wrote, "...I believe, this was the first course in any law school that emphasized the defects of the legal process and the duty of lawyers to remedy them."

Pirsig's application - Request for research support

Travel letter - Pirsig's travel letter issued by dean Fraser, 1930

Casebook - Excerpts: Preface; Contents; Cases; Articles, 1946

Casebook Reviews - ABA, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, U Pennsylvania, 1946 - 1947

Recordings of Pirsig's Judicial Administration Course Lectures - Summer 1946

 

Pirsig's Soundscriber discs on display at Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Audio of the lectures - 4 hours, 10 minutes

Transcription of the lectures - 74 pages

Thanks to Julie Mielke, Government Documents and School Archives Coordinator at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, for lending the vinyl records from the school's display case.

Pirsig's Legal Aid Association Brochure, c.1950

 

Interview with Maynard by the University of Minnesota Law School, 1977

 

In this interview, Professor Pirsig recalls how the 1906 speech given in the Minnesota Capitol building by Roscoe Pound inspired Dean Fraser to send Professor Pirsig to study with Pound at Harvard Law School in 1930. 

Interview with Pirsig

Roscoe Pound's speech, 1906 - "The Causes of Popular Disatisfaction with the Administration of Justice"

Thanks to Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Law School, for sharing this Maynard Pirsig interview.

Minnesota Supreme Court Library Videotaped Interview, 1990

Still image from videotaped interview

Court History; developments in legal education; Professor Pirsig's path. 

Video - 1 hour, 38 minutes 

Notes - Topics discussed

Archives donated to the University

Wendy Pirsig donated four banker boxes of Maynard E. Pirsig's archives to the University of Minnesota Law School Library. Ryan Greenwood, the curator of rare books and special collections at the university facilitated the donation of letters, writings, audio recordings, and hundreds of photos by Maynard E. Pirsig.

To see an announcement by the school, please click here.

To see a spreadsheet of the items donated, please click here.

Pirsig's Camera and Pen Donated, 2024

 

The photos above are of Maynard E. Pirsig's Rolleiflex 3.5F film camera and his Mont Blanc Meisterstuck fountain pen. Maynard is pictured with the items. He often had the latest versions of cameras, dark-room equipment, audio recorders, computers, cars, watches and pens. In 1946 he used the first SoundScriber dictaphone--a machine introduced in 1945--to record a series of classroom lectures onto ten vinyl records. During these lectures Pirsig and the students briefly discuss whether punch-card data processing could make basic legal procedures more economical (The 1946 SoundScriber recordings are linked in an entry below).

The University of Minnesota Law School Library archives has hundreds of photos taken by Maynard. The camera and pen now also have the distinction of being in the library's archives.  They were donated to the by Pirsig's grandson, David Lindberg, through, Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at the school. Thanks to Wendy Pirsig for her help.

Maynard E. Pirsig Slideshow Tribute from 1982

This video is a recreation of a slide show shown to around 300 guests attending the William Mitchell Student Loan Benefit Dinner and Roast of Maynard Pirsig in 1982. This video recreation was made from Maynard E. Pirsig archives held by the University of Minnesota Law School Library and with the help of Ryan Greenwood - Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections. Thanks also to Wendy Pirsig.

Video - 8 minutes

Encyclopedia Britannica Legal Ethics Definition, 1974

Pirsig defined Legal Ethics for the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1974 edition

    Article - 3 pages

University of Minnesota Law School films. Filmed by Professor Pirsig, 1930s-1950s. Narrated by his son, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Still image from the video, Dean Fraser and family

Everett Fraser, Stefan Riesenfeld, Arthur Pulling, Maynard E. Pirsig, and other University of Minnesota Law professors and family. Filmed by Maynard E. Pirsig, 1930's - 1950's. 

Narrated by Robert M. Pirsig, mid-2000's

Video - 3 1/2 minutes