Happy Halloween from the Riesenfeld Center!

A Tryal of Witches ... London, 1716

Just in time for Halloween, we brought out from our stacks a few historical witch trials. 

Cotton Mather's The Wonders of the Invisible World, held by the library in a nineteenth-century English edition, gives an account of the witch trials held in Salem, Massachusetts and implicitly defends his role in them. In another work, Late Memorable Providences, relating to Witchcraft and Possession (1689), Mather describes the "witchcraft" of Irish washerwoman Goody Glover, which was partly responsible for spreading the hysteria surrounding witchcraft through the colony of New England, resulting in the death of many innocent people. 

Another title is one of the most famous English witchcraft trials, by virtue of a thorough account of the presiding judge Matthew Hale. Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, two elderly widows, were indicted on thirteen counts of "malevolent" witchcraft. According to this account, respected jurist and legal scholar Hale did not doubt "That there were such Creatures as Witches ... For First, the Scriptures had affirmed so much. Secondly, The wisdom of all Nations had provided Laws against such Persons, which is an Argument of their confidence of such a Crime....And desired them, strictly to observe their Evidence; and desired the great God of Heaven to direct their Hearts in this weighty thing they had in Hand: For to Condemn the Innocent, and to let the Guilty go free, were both an Abomination to the Lord."

For images and more witch trials, see our new Tumblr site...

   - Barbara Berdahl, Special Collections Assistant Librarian

Jewels in the Crown: American Indian Law

Report of the Committee... Milledgeville, 1832

The Pulling Collection includes an extensive set of material on American Indian law, with a wide array of treaties, tribal laws and constitutions. The collection documents very well the removal of tribes to Indian Territory, and reveals some of the culture of a wide variety of tribes, seen through laws and constitutions. Taken together the collection of American Indian law captures many of the key moments in US-Indian relations between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and represents an excellent resource for research.

Report of the Committee to Whom was Referred … Milledgeville, GA, 1832.

Letter of the Cherokee Delegation to the President of the United States … Washington, D.C., 1896.

[Laws of the Cherokee Nation: Adopted by the Council at Various Periods].  Tahlequah, 1852.

Decisions of the United States Courts in Indian Territory … Washington, D.C., 1899.

Chippewa Indians in Minnesota: Letter from the Secretary of War … Washington, D.C., 1892.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: English Law

A Collection of State-Trials, London, 1735

English law was a special interest of noted law librarian Arthur C. Pulling, after whom the Rare Books Collection is named. Between 1912 and 1942, Pulling assembled one of the strongest collections of law in the United States, and one of the finest rare law collections. Pulling developed a preeminent collection of the main genres of English legal publishing, including collections of abridgements, statutes, Year Books, nominative reports, trial accounts, dictionaries and treatises. Today the Library's collection of early English law, printed between 1490 and 1599, is one of the finest in the country, featuring over half the titles found in Joseph Beale’s benchmark A Bibliography of Early English Law Books (1926). These begin with Statham’s Abridgement of Cases to the End of Henry VI (1490), one of the earliest printed works of English law. Shown in the exhibit are a volume of state trials, opened to a trial of John Lilburne, a Leveller "so-called" and early proponent (through his own trials) of defendants' rights, and a case before the House of Lords, until relatively recently England's highest court of appeal.

A Collection of State-Trials and Proceedings upon High Treason … London, 1735.
Appeal Cases [House of Lords].  London, 1814-21.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Colonial and Early State Law

Acts and Laws...Boston, 1742.

Colonial and early US state law is a particular strength within the Pulling Collection, along with items dating from the Revolution. Ranging from early and rare colonial laws to early state and territorial laws, the works shed excellent light on the formation of American government and society. Currently on display are statutes from Massachusetts and New Jersey before and during the Revolution, and a translated Siete Partidas, a medieval Spanish law code which remained partly in force in Louisiana into the nineteenth century.

Acts and Laws of His Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston, 1742.
The Laws of Las Siete Partidas Which Are Still in Force in the State of Louisiana.  New Orleans, 1820.
Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey. Trenton, 1778.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Clarence Darrow

Scopes Trial Brief, New York, 1925.

The Center holds an extraordinary collection of personal letters to and from Clarence Darrow, and collects Darrow’s works and those related to his life and career. Included in the exhibit are an eloquent letter from Helen Keller, concerning her political commitments and their conflict with her institutional duties, and warm Darrow letters to his wife Ruby and his son, Paul. A Persian Pearl, containing five Darrow essays, is shown in an inscribed, limited edition. The centerpiece is a brief from the Scopes trial, from co-counsel and ACLU general counsel Arthur Garfield Hays.

For more on Darrow, his cases and career, please see the Riesenfeld Center's award-winning Clarence Darrow Digital Collection.

Helen Keller, letter to Clarence Darrow, August 19, 1931.

Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), A Persian Pearl. And Other Essays. Aurora, NY, 1899.

Clarence Darrow, John Neal, et al., Statement of Facts, Assignments of Errors, Brief and Argument in Behalf of John Thomas Scopes … New York, 1925. 

Clarence Darrow, letters to Ruby Darrow, November 11, [unknown year]; and to Paul Darrow, May 7, 1922.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Early Modern International Law

Mare Liberum, Leiden, 1633.

The Pulling Collection offers a great showcase for key works of important contributors to early modern international law. Emerging in part from jurists like Hugo Grotius, and debates like that on the freedom of the seas, early modern international law drew from Roman and canon law, and both supported and sought to regulate an age of European conquest and globalization. Included in the exhibit is a small but famous part of the debate on the freedom of the seas. Grotius, a Dutchman, supported Dutch mercantile interests, arguing in Mare Liberum (1609) for free commercial rights to the seas. The English antiquarian Selden, and others, countered that seas could fall under national jurisdiction and ownership; this was the case with the herring-rich fishing waters off England’s coast.  

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Mare Liberum. Leiden, 1633. 

John Selden (1584-1654), Mare Clausum. In Opera Omnia, vol. 2, pt. 2.  London, 1726.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Women's Rights

Abby Smith and Her Cows, Hartford, 1877.

Women’s rights and law are highlighted in the Pulling Rare Books Collection. Although a summary of restrictive English marriage laws, A Treatise of Feme Coverts is an early work devoted solely to laws concerning women. Wollstonecraft’s famous Vindication, published shortly after her defense of natural rights, argues on Enlightenment principles for better education and greater equality.

The quest for women's rights in America, and particularly suffrage, is also represented. A rare printed speech of Sarah Winthrop Smith makes a direct argument: because all naturally-born or naturalized individuals are US citizens, and voting is a natural right of citizenship, women should be allowed to vote. The Smith sisters, Abby and Julia, gained national attention partly through the latter’s account of their travails. The sisters refused to pay local property taxes after a punitively high tax assessment, and became a celebrated case of taxation without representation.

A Treatise of Feme Coverts; or, the Lady’s Law.  London, 1732.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London, 1796.

Clarina Nichols (1810-1885), The Responsibilities of Woman.  A Speech by Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, at the Woman's Rights Convention, Worcester, October 15, 1851.

Sara Winthrop Smith, Suffrage a Right of Citizenship.  An Address by Sara Winthrop Smith.  Washington, D.C., 1893. 

Julia E. Smith (1792-1896), Abby Smith and Her Cows, with a Report of the Law Case Decided Contrary to Law.  Hartford, 1877.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Abolitionism

The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade... New Haven, 1791

The Pulling Collection features notable books and pamphlets related to slavery and the Abolitionist Movement in the United States. Items on display include a sermon and speech by a son and grandson of theologian and minister Jonathan Edwards, advancing both moral and legal arguments against slavery. Edwards Jr. (1745-1801) was a particularly interesting figure, as a linguist who published on native American languages and opposed his noted father's slaveholding. Included are also a stirring address of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, urging vocal support for abolitionism. These and famous trial accounts contribute to a richly documented literature.

Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1745-1801), The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade … New Haven, 1791.
Theodore Dwight (1764-1846), An Oration Spoken Before the Connecticut Society … Hartford, 1794.
The African Captives: Trial of the Prisoners of the Amistad … New York, 1839.
Matthew Franklin (1773-1815), Address of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery … Philadelphia, 1804.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), Free Speech. 1861.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Jewels in the Crown: Classics

The Riesenfeld Center's current exhibit, "Jewels in the Crown: Highlights from the Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection," offers an overview of collection strengths and individual gems from more than 25,000 volumes that comprise the Pulling Collection.  Significantly developed by Arthur C. Pulling, the Law Library's director from 1912 to 1942, the Collection has a number of strengths, including English law, colonial and early American law, territorial and US state law, letters and works by and about Clarence Darrow, American Indian law, early international law, and Roman and canon law.  Selections from these and more are on display.

Magna Carta.  London, 1531

Among classic works of English and American law, the exhibit features an annotated Year Book from the reign of Edward IV (1461-83), one of the early English case reports and a hallmark of the Anglo-American legal system.  Also on display are an early printed Magna Carta (the Center holds fourteen editions of Magna Carta printed before 1600), key Congressional laws, including the first US session laws, and Thomas Paine's widely read spur to the Revolution, Common Sense.

Magna Carta. London, 1531.
De termino Michaelis anno. XV. regni Regis Edwardi Quarti. London, 1572.
William Blackstone (1723-1780), Commentaries on the Laws of England. Vol. 1. Dublin, 1766.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress ... London, 1775.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), Common Sense. Philadelphia, 1776.
Acts passed at a Congress of the United States of America, begun and held at the city of New-York, on Wednesday, the fourth of March … New-York, 1789.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections