The Sidney L. Samuels Collection

Sidney L. Samuels was a prominent Fort Worth attorney and orator who was "considered one of the great legal minds" of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a conservative and a strict constitutionalist. He considered himself "an unreconstructed southerner" and held the old Confederacy in high esteem. As such, during the later years of his life, he questioned the constitutionality of the civil rights movement.

Samuels attended Fort Worth University and then went to law school at the University of Texas. He served as Fort Worth City Attorney from 1907 to 1909. He specialized in libel law and counted the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and numerous national magazines among his clients. He worked with J.R. Muse, the attorney for the Dallas Morning News to write the Texas privilege statute which enabled newspapers to publish sworn courtroom testimony. In addition, he also represented the Tarrant County Water Control Board and served as the personal attorney for Amon Carter, Sr. and Captain S. Burk Burnett.

In late 1957, 250 lawyers and city leaders honored Samuels at a testimonial dinner in the Crystal Ballroom at the Hotel Texas. Less than a year later, in September 1958, Samuels fell on the steps of his home and was confined to his bed. He died on November 29, 1958.

Samuels loved and collected rare books, amassing a library of 7,000 volumes. Upon his death, he left them to the library at Texas Wesleyan College in his will.