Robert S. Marx
By Lauren Fink
The Archives and Rare Books Library was recently delivered a copper box that looked like it had been through a fire. The box, actually a time capsule from 1963, was found on the top shelf of a safe in the College of Law. Curious faculty members then inquired about opening it and were granted permission. The contents were revealed and, regardless of what the time capsule has gone through, all are in excellent condition.
Many of the contents of the 1963 College of Law time capsule commemorate the contributions and achievements of Robert S. Marx (1889-1960). Marx graduated from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Law, where he later became a member of the faculty. While attending the university, Marx was a football captain in 1908 and a member of the wrestling and debate teams. Later, as a professor and a well-respected judge, he created courses and established a lecture and seminar series that helped advance justice education and the College of Law as a whole.
Marx was also a WWI veteran, a practicing attorney, a businessman, and a philanthropist. He was a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and of the American Bar Foundation, holding bar memberships in Ohio, New York, and Michigan. Marx also served as a director of Schenley Industries, Inc., was president of Cincinnati Oil and Mining Co., and a member of the board of directors of Portsmouth Steel Corp., The Model Laundry Co. of Cincinnati, and the Detroit Steel Company.
Robert Marx’s lifetime endeavors and contributions to law and education can be found in the documents contained in the time capsule, which include programs from his lectures and seminars, opinions on cases, and biographical sketches from law school and disabled veterans publications. Additionally, Law School class offerings and programs from the Law School’s Anniversary and Cornerstone ceremonies are contained in the capsule. A complete finding aid for the material in the collection is available on the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository.
Many thanks to Charlene Carpenter and Jim Schoenfeld of the College of Law for sending this material to the University Archives, and to Charlene’s husband, Dan, for opening the copper box. For more information about the time capsule or other historical information on the College of Law, please contact the Archives and Rare Books Library at 513-556-1959, by email at archives@ucmail.uc.edu, or by viewing our website, http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/index.html. The cornerstone address by Walter M. Shohl on the placement of the time capsule for the Marx Library on September 16, 1963 is included in this collection, and has been scanned for our historical documents section on the ARB web pages: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/archives/collections/founding.html.