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Friday, September 27, 2024

Wednesday, October 2: Rare Books Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Center's monthly rare books open house for October, next Wednesday, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.!

Enjoy snacks and drinks, and see new and unique treasures from the library's rare books and special collections! The Riesenfeld Center's collections feature more than 35,000 titles dating from the 15th century to today.

WhenWednesday, October 2, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
WhereRiesenfeld Rare Books Research Center*
WhatRare books, bagged snacks and treats, and refreshments!


(*The Riesenfeld Center is in N30, on the Subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20.)





Thursday, September 19, 2024

New Publication: Histories of Legal Literature

A new legal bibliography has just been released, which will be of service to scholars and students across disciplines interested to learn more about and use for research the rich and diverse texts found in the history of the law. The book, Histories of Legal Literature, indexes 998 English-language works of scholarship, published in the past hundred years, on the history of legal literature in a global framework. The bibliography also includes extensive introductory material, a subject index and statistical analyses to guide the reader. These are intended to provide better access to the scholarship and indicate where future scholarship may make new contributions. 

The legal texts that are the subject of the indexed studies have formed the basis of legal systems across numerous jurisdictions, from the ancient world to the present, and have represented repositories of significant historical continuity and change, providing a window not only into substantive law, but the social, economic and political dynamics that the law often illuminates. The authors have also featured in the bibliographic checklist works about the law - including juvenile legal literature and comic books - that offer a point of entry into forms of expression that have cultural significance beyond canonical treatises, reports and statutes. These are certainly worthy of (and often need) further study.  

The project was led by Michael Widener, an internationally recognized expert on legal history and rare law book collecting, who has served as the Rare Book Librarian at Yale Law School and previously at Tarlton Law Library. A very warm congratulations to Mike on the wonderful result of all the good work! The author of this post has been privileged to provide assistance, and both of the book's authors very much hope that the bibliography will open new paths for study by students and scholars.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections 


Wednesday, September 25: Fall Exhibit Open House!

Come out to an open house for our fall exhibit in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center, next Wednesday, September 25, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.!


Open House: Wednesday, September 25, 2024
                         12 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
                         Riesenfeld Rare Books Center (N30, Sub-plaza)

                         Cookies, snacks, fruit and refreshments served.


"Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center," showcases the depth of the Law Library's special collections. The Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection, housed in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center, comprises more than 35,000 volumes printed across six continents between the fifteenth century and today. The current exhibit features selected treasures from the Pulling Collection, as well as the Law School archives, and the Library's signature Clarence Darrow Collection, which contains more than 1,000 letters to and from the great American defense attorney.

Section introductions and descriptions in the exhibit place the works in their historical contexts and indicate their enduring value. The items reflect a historical legal legacy that is both national and global in its scope. We invite visitors to browse the exhibit and learn more about the richness of the Law Library’s collections.  



 

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Tuesday, September 17: Celebrate Constitution Day!

Come out and celebrate Constitution Day in the Law Library lobby! 

Stop by and grab donuts and coffee on Tuesday, September 17, and pick up a crossword puzzle and word search about the US Constitution for prizes. Collect a pocket copy of the Constitution also!

Don't forget to take a selfie with James Madison!   

When: Tuesday, September 17, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Where: Law Library Lobby
What: Donuts, Coffee, Tea and Prizes! 

Our original Constitution was both brilliant and highly ...

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Collection Spotlight: Historical American Law

Historical American law is in many ways the heart of the Riesenfeld Center's rare books collection. Not unusually, the present rare books collection had its origin in the acquisition of law books needed for faculty and student use, and traces to the early years of the Law School. The Law Library itself can be traced to 1888, in the office of William Pattee, the School's first dean, whose collection included essential case reports, treatises and abridgements. A more formal Law Library (shown above) opened in 1899, in the Law School's new building in Pattee Hall, and quickly expanded. 

Arthur C. Pulling, the Law School's first Law Librarian, began a distinguished collecting tradition when he arrived in 1912. During his thirty-year tenure, he gathered a preeminent national collection of historical and contemporary law, with an understanding that historical volumes were necessary for principles and cases in the common law tradition and relevant in the courts of his own day. In the beginning, the Law Library had a great need for law reports, particularly from US state courts, and eagerly collected the American-authored treatises that began to proliferate in the late 19th century. Perhaps the first 'rare' book that Pulling collected, Daines Barrington's Observations on the More Ancient Statutes (1766), was an important historical commentary on English statutory law; Pulling also collected American classics, including commentaries on the Constitution by Joseph Story and on American law by James Kent. 

Beyond these, Pulling invested in colonial American session laws, essential pamphlets of the colonial period - often political in nature - and other works printed in America prior to 1800. Debates of state constitutional conventions, orders to muster and organize soldiers for the American Revolution, and early practice guides and justice of the peace manuals were also collected. These provide insight into the scope of Pulling's vision: he viewed all historical law as potentially useful, and beyond that appeared to have a completist's desire to collect in key jurisdictions (mainly England and America) in as great a depth as possible. Coming to Minnesota from Harvard, his goal was to emulate the institution that shaped his vision of what a law library should be.  

The following are two highlights from the Center's American law collection, both added to the collection not by Pulling but former curator Katherine Hedin, as part of a tradition that has continued to today. This "collection spotlight" series, based on our current exhibit and an award-winning Law Library publication, will showcase prominent collection areas within the Riesenfeld Center. 

Poor Richard Improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris ... for the Year of Our Lord 1766
(Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, 1765). 

No almanac was more popular in the colonies than Poor Richard’s, which made Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) a successful Philadelphia printer. With details on astrology, astronomy, agriculture, and colonial affairs, together with Franklin’s witty advice, the almanac appealed to a wide audience, selling thousands of copies annually. These compact almanacs are ephemeral works that are today scarce. This edition is remarkable for its inclusion of the new Stamp Act (1765), which kindled many colonists’ ire. Franklin, after hearing of colonial opposition while resident in London, made a speech before Parliament in early 1766 against the law, which was repealed soon after.

Elie Vallette, The Deputy Commissary’s Guide within the Province of Maryland: Together with Plain and Sufficient Directions f or Testators t o Form, and Executors t o Perform Their Wills and Testaments... (Annapolis: Printed by Ann Catharine Green and Son, 1774). 

Women were significant figures in early American printing. The first colonial publisher, Elizabeth Glover, oversaw the printing of the historic Bay Psalm Book (1640). Mary Katharine Goddard undertook the second printing of the Declaration of Independence, and the first to include its signatories. Anne Catharine Green (ca. 1720–1775), like Goddard a printer in Maryland, published newspapers and books with her husband and later with her children. The Deputy Commissary’s Guide, the first colonial work on wills and estates, features the only copper-plate engraved title page from colonial Maryland.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections



Saturday, May 18, 2024

Law Library Publication Wins Prestigious Award

Cover of Jewels of the Collection showing gold crown on red background
The Law Library is pleased to announce that it has received the 2024
 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) for its publication, Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center (University of Minnesota Law Library, 2023). The Andrews Award recognizes significant textual contributions to legal bibliographical literature and is one of the most prestigious awards presented by AALL. The award criteria evaluate works for originality and creativity, and honor publications in legal bibliography, legal research, and those that advance the field of law librarianship.

Jewels of the Collection is a catalog of one hundred selected treasures from the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center's collections. Its aim is to introduce rare and unique legal materials that explore a global legal heritage. The catalog's selected items are accompanied by detailed descriptions that explain their significance and place them in historical context. Included in the publication are many books, pamphlets, letters, and other documents that represent important contributions to law and history, or are landmark 'firsts' of legal literature. Other items are notable for associations with famous authors and owners, such as Clarence Darrow, whose preeminent collection of letters is held at the Riesenfeld Center, or because they stand as unique artifacts and works of art. The volume trains a spotlight on familiar and lesser-known works that provide important insights into the historical development, and progress, of diverse traditions of law.

Jewels of the Collection was co-authored by Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections, and Patrick Graybill, the former Library Digital Initiatives Technologist, with editorial support from law librarians Michael HannonConnie Lenz, and Sarah YatesPublications authored or edited by the University of Minnesota Law librarians have now won the Joseph L. Andrews Award five times, a remarkable achievement.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Thursday, May 9, 2024

New Law Library Digital Resource: Historical Foundations of First-Year Law School Cases

The Old Bailey in London, Known Also as the Central Criminal Court
The University of Minnesota Law Library is pleased to announce the release of an exciting new digital resource, Classic Cases: Historical Foundations of First-Year Law School Cases.  It is also available through the link here, as part of the Law Library's growing digital collections.

Early in their legal education, law school students are introduced to foundational cases that highlight key doctrines of historical and current law, including classics such as Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad (1924), Hadley v. Baxendale (1854), and the complex rule against perpetuities from The Duke of Norfolk’s Case (1682). The reasoning and authorities relied on in these cases, drawn from the pages of first-year casebooks, offer valuable insight into the ways that lawyers have argued and judges have decided cases for centuries.

 

Classic Cases: Historical Foundations of First-Year Law School Cases features summaries of cases in five areas of law: constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, property, and torts. Following these summaries are discussions of selected historical precedents and authorities which contextualize the rulings and their contemporary frameworks.

 

The classic cases and their selected citations include the corresponding case reports and links to relevant volumes in the Law Library’s collections. The site also features further bibliography, images, and links to additional information. A timeline for the classic cases furnishes visual and chronological context. Researchers and students are encouraged to use the site to learn more about the development of the common law tradition. Of particular note, this site provides access to scans from selected volumes from the Library’s rich Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection. These showcase the depth of the historical legal resources found in the Law Library’s Stefan A. Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center.  

 

Classic Cases: Historical Foundations of First-Year Law School Cases was supervised by Michael Hannon '98, Associate Director for Access Services & Digital Initiatives, and Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections, with the invaluable assistance of law students Rachel Canoun ‘24, Mason Medeiros ‘22, Loren Olson ‘26, and Alec Shaw ‘19, who wrote and edited the case summaries. Law Library colleagues Joy Brown, Digital Technologist, designed and built the digital site, and Sophia Charbonneau, Special Collections Assistant, assembled the materials featured on it, as well as provided editing and proofreading.

  

For more information about the digital site, please contact Ryan Greenwood (612-625-7323; rgreenwo@umn.edu).