New Riesenfeld Center Acquisitions: Clarence Darrow

The Riesenfeld Center recently acquired several items to add to its preeminent collection of letters, publications and trial material from the career of legendary defense attorney, Clarence Darrow (1857-1938). A new letter from Darrow concerns a dinner party held in 1931 to honor Lincoln Steffens, the noted American journalist, with an image of the seated attendees in New York. The enclosed list of attendees shows that Darrow was still associated with many of the journalists late in his career that he had known much earlier, including his old friend Steffens. Darrow's friendships and associations with journalists like Steffens and H. L. Mencken helped considerably to promote his trials and the social issues on which he frequently spoke and debated, often to large crowds across the country. Present at the tribute dinner was also Edward Bernays, a pioneer of American public relations and political psychology who contributed significantly to the war efforts in WWI and WWII. 

Another is a copy of "Big" Bill Haywood's autobiography, published in 1929, here with original illustrated dust jacket and formerly owned by women's rights activist Clarina Michelson. The feared Haywood was one of Darrow's important clients, a founding member of the International Workers of the World (IWW, or "Wobblies") and a controversial American labor leader. Darrow successfully defended Haywood against a murder charge in 1907, cementing his reputation as perhaps the nation's foremost defense attorney. The Library and Riesenfeld Center's Darrow Collection also holds a partial transcript from the famous murder case, the separately-printed closing arguments of the prosecution and defense, and letters related to the case. As a renowned labor lawyer during the first half of his career, Darrow defended Eugene Debs and prevailed in several other high-profile cases that are part of the Library's extensive Darrow Digital Collection. 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections