Finals Study Break: Tuesday, December 12!

Come out next Tuesday for a study break during finals!  

 

Grab coffee and fresh-baked donuts outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center. 

 

When: Tuesday, December 12, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 

Where: Outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center (N30, on the subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20)

What: Coffee and donuts!  

 

Good luck on finals, and best wishes for the holidays from the Law Library!

 

 

 

 

New Darrow Acquisitions & Darrow’s Library

The Riesenfeld Center has recently acquired several new items relating to Clarence Darrow’s interests and career, as well as those of his wife, Ruby. These items join the Law Library’s Darrow collection, which includes more than 1,000 letters, as well as books, speeches, debates, trial briefs and transcripts, and other material about Darrow and his noteworthy career and life. To learn more about Darrow, you can visit our award-winning digital research site, which makes available extensive material from our collection.

 

Two of the library’s newest acquisitions are pamphlets featuring some of Darrow’s work. The first, an issue of the leftist periodical The Debunker published in 1931, features Darrow’s essay, “Absurdities of the Bible.” Darrow, a known agnostic, delves into a handful of stories from the Bible, including the creation of Adam and the performing of several miracles. Darrow states that “I am an agnostic because I trust my reason…Anybody who can believe those old myths and fables isn’t governed by reason.”

Another new pamphlet to the collection relates to Benjamin Gitlow, a communist whose civil liberties Darrow defended in a noted ‘Red Scare’ trial in 1920. Gitlow, a member of the Labor Committee of the Communist Labor Party and a staffer for the left-wing magazine The Revolutionary Age, was tried under New York’s Criminal Anarchy Act of 1902. This was done on the grounds that the magazine’s printing of the Left Wing Manifesto constituted encouragement of the violent overthrow of the government. Darrow was hired as part of the defense team, and his speech in Gitlow’s defense is excerpted in this pamphlet. Ultimately, Gitlow was found guilty and sentenced to five to ten years of hard labor, being released in 1922 after successful appeals.

We have also acquired several books belonging to Darrow and members of his family. The first, Darrow’s wife Ruby’s copy of The Summing Up, by Somerset Maugham, connects to several letters in our collection, in which Ruby discusses Maugham, his books, and his relationship to Darrow. This copy features pasted-in newspaper clippings related to Maugham and penciled-in annotations by Ruby, showing her admiration for Maugham and proving this to be a well-read copy of his work. We also acquired two books belonging to Darrow’s son, Paul. The Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air was a Christmas gift inscribed to Paul from Darrow in 1889, when Paul was six. The other, Sailor on Horseback, by Irving Stone, was inscribed to Paul and his wife with a note about Stone’s biography on Darrow that was to come: “I pledge myself to give everything I’ve got to make the Clarence Darrow biography at least as good as this book, and I hope a great deal better.”

Two other books with inscriptions to Darrow also join our collection. The Life and Adventures of Carl Laemmle, by John Drinkwater, includes a warm inscription written to Darrow by the author. Laemmle was an influential German-American film producer, who produced Mystery of Life (1931), a film about evolution, which Darrow narrated and appeared in. The Child You Used to Be was sent by the author, Leonora Pease, to Darrow. While most of our collection includes kind notes to Darrow, this one includes a criticism of Darrow’s novel, Farmington: “To Clarence Darrow--A man who wrote a human boy’s book, with allusions in it to little girls, all dressed up and sitting in a row like dolls or painted angels, I offer this c[h]ronicle of real ‘little girlhood.’”

This assortment of books joins our growing collection of materials owned by Darrow and members of his family. We are excited to have created a new collection designation for these materials, which allows for browsing the interests and relationships found through this associative ownership. All of these new acquisitions provide additional context and depth to what we know about Darrow’s beliefs, career, and relationships, viewed through the collection.

 

- Sophia Charbonneau, Special Collections Assistant 

 

Thursday, November 9: Book Talk by Professor John Bessler on the Death Penalty

On Thursday, November 9, please join us for a book launch event for Professor John Bessler (U. Baltimore School of Law), sponsored by the Law School's Human Rights Center. 

 

Bessler's talk, based on his recently published book, "The Death Penalty's Denial of Fundamental Human Rights," will detail how capital punishment violates universal human rights-to-life; to be free from torture and other forms of cruelty; to be treated in a non-arbitrary, non-discriminatory manner; and to dignity. 

 

The talk will open with remarks on the history of the death penalty and torture, and capital punishment reform, featuring books from the Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection at the Riesenfeld Center.

 

Professor Bessler will be joined by discussants Amy Bergquist and Professor Ryan Greenwood. 

 

Click here for more information or to register for the event.

When: Thursday, November 9 at 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Where: Mondale Hall, Room 35

 

Reception with light snacks to follow.

 

1 standard CLE credit is available. Event code #493912.

 

 

Wednesday, November 1: Halloween Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center's Halloween Open House on Wednesday, November 1st, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.! 

Stop by to see spooky treasures from our collection - including witch trials, murder trials, a macabre torture manual, and other sensational works - and pick up snacks, drinks, and Halloween candy!

When: Wednesday, Nov. 1st, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Center
What: Spooky rare books, snacks, drinks, candy!


(The Center is in N30, on the subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20.)

New Exhibits Open House: Wednesday, September 27!

All are invited to an open house for two new Law Library exhibits:

 

"Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center"

 

and 

 

A Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the American Law Institute

When: Wednesday, September 27, from 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center (N30, Subplaza level).
 
Cookies, brownies, bars, bagged snacks and drinks will be available!
 

"Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center," showcases the depth of the Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection. This centerpiece of the Library's special collections features more than 35,000 volumes printed between the fifteenth century and today. The new exhibit introduces the treasures found in the Riesenfeld Center and highlights its diverse strengths. The items reflect a historical legal legacy that is both national and global in its scope.

 

The ALI traveling exhibit commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the American Law Institute (ALI) and the contributions of Law School faculty to ALI’s important work. Founded in 1923, the American Law Institute has aimed to reduce the uncertainty and complexity of American law and to improve the administration of justice through its publications, including Restatements, Principles and Model Acts and Laws. These have provided clarity and guidance for judges, lawyers, and legislators across many fields of American law. The exhibit documents a selection of contributions of Law School faculty to ALI projects.

 

The exhibit, "Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center," was curated by Ryan Greenwood and Joy Brown. 

 

 

New Law Library Exhibits: Celebrating the American Law Institute and Treasures of the Riesenfeld Center

Two new exhibits are open in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center this academic year. 

 

The first commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the American Law Institute (ALI) and the contributions of Law School faculty to ALI’s important work. Created by ALI, the exhibit has traveled to Michigan, Texas, the University of Chicago, and several other law schools. The second exhibit, "Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center" celebrates the depth and richness of the Law Library's special collections.

Founded in 1923, the Institute has endeavored through its publications to reduce the uncertainty and complexity of American law and to improve the administration of justice. Its influential publications include the Restatements, Principles and Model Acts and Laws. These have provided useful guidance for generations of judges, lawyers, and legislators across many fields of American law.  

 

The exhibit documents a selection of contributions of Law School faculty to ALI projects, tracing back to the tenure of Dean Everett Fraser (1920–1948). Faculty involvement was particularly promoted under the deanship of Professor Robert Stein (‘61) (1979–1994). Stein himself has served on ALI's governing Council, on the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Commercial Code, and has been an Adviser on the Restatement of the Law Second, Property and Restatement of the Law Third, Trusts. The UCC, a comprehensive set of laws governing commercial transactions in the United States, has been uniformly adopted by the states and represents one of ALI’s most significant achievements. 

 

Many other Law School faculty members have also played prominent roles in creating ALI publications, serving as Reporters, Advisers, or members of Consultative Groups for Restatements of the Law, Model Codes and Principles. 

The work of the American Law Institute, a cornerstone of American jurisprudence, will remain beneficial long beyond its centenary. In the same way, Minnesota faculty will continue to make important contributions to ALI’s mission.

 

The second exhibit, "Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center," showcases the depth of the Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection. This centerpiece of the Library's special collections features more than 35,000 volumes printed between the fifteenth century and today. The new exhibit introduces the treasures found in the Riesenfeld Center and highlights its diverse strengths. Some of the exhibit treasures have been selected as important contributions to law and history, or as landmark “firsts” of legal literature. Others are notable for their associations with famous authors and owners, or as unique artifacts and works of art. The items reflect a historical legal legacy that is both national and global in its scope. 

 

The exhibit, "Jewels of the Collection: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center," was curated by Ryan Greenwood and Joy Brown.  

 

For more information about the exhibits or to schedule a tour, please contact Ryan Greenwood (rgreenwo@umn.edu; 612-625-7323).

 

 

  

Wednesday, September 20: Celebrate Constitution Day!

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

Stop by and grab donuts and coffee on September 20, and pick up a crossword puzzle about the US Constitution for prizes.

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

When: Wednesday, September 20, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Where: Law Library Lobby
What: Donuts, Coffee, and Prizes!  

 

New Rare Acquisitions: The History of Legal Education

The Riesenfeld Center has recently acquired a series of rare and important titles connected to the history of legal education and the profession. The books were added to the collection through a  generous donation by William Lindberg ('73), who served for many years as an executive at West Publishing Company in St. Paul, on both the print and electronic sides of its product line. The Riesenfeld Center is deeply grateful for Mr. Lindberg's generous and thoughtful gift, which benefits the rare books collection in a direct way, through the acquisition of historically significant titles of permanent value.

 

Several of the newly acquired titles shed light directly on legal education as it developed in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. Two are extensive notebooks from the collection of Byron Coleman, a prominent San Francisco attorney. The bound notebooks, underlining aspects of Coleman's legal education at Harvard in 1912 and 1913, are carefully typewritten in red and black, composed of more than 1800 pages analyzing cases and principles. Among the casebooks that Coleman studied and heard lectures on were those of famous faculty James Barr Ames (equity and trusts), John Chipman Gray (property), James Bradley Thayer (evidence), and Samuel Williston (sales). Coleman digested each case in preparation for class and exams. Notes from class discussions of the cases are recorded below the initial case summaries. The case method of instruction, pioneered in the 1870s by Christopher Columbus Langdell at Harvard and adopted generally in American law school curricula, is readily apparent in the volumes. Though not followed immediately, the case method took its place at Harvard and schools across the country by the early 20th century. Coleman also usefully recorded the dissenting and parenthetical commentary of his teachers, who included cases that were instructive but not necessarily (in their view) rightly decided. The notes offer fascinating insight into a formative period of American legal education, adding early discussions of landmark cases.

 

Other American legal titles among the acquisitions are also notable. Two in particular form a neat pair. Simon Greenleaf's Discourse Pronounced at the Inauguration of the Author as Royall Professor of Law in Harvard University (1834), signed by the author, provides Greenleaf's vision, as a newly-appointed Harvard law professor, of American legal education as it was developing within universities; and he outlines the leading role Harvard was to play in American legal education. Greenleaf was named to the Royall professorship at Harvard Law School in 1833, remaining there until 1848. An influential faculty member during the school's early days, Greenleaf penned the leading American treatise on evidence in the nineteenth century. Another title from the same period, Samuel Atkinson's Catechism of American Law: Adapted to Popular Use (1832) appears to follow the question-and-answer format of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, dividing American law into familiar topics, including marriage, contracts, property, partnership, and insurance, which would be useful for laymen and introductory students. At a time when self-study and apprenticeship were common – and when legal literacy was important in a burgeoning mercantile society – the author Atkinson attempted to meet a public need. Each work offers a different and valuable perspective on legal education during a period of American growth in which there was enduring uncertainty over how best to learn and train in the law.

 

Among acquisitions on English legal education, volumes treat the role and value of forensic argument, the issue of religious tolerance in schools, and the reform of legal education in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England. Two items, Tutor and Pupils (London, 1891) and Letters to John Bull on Lawyers and Law Reform (London, 1857), reflect entrenched approaches, alongside efforts to modernize legal education in nineteenth-century England, at a time when American legal education began to break its own path. Taken together, the works show an evolving tradition in both countries, whose systems remained intertwined.

 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

Tuesday, April 18: Celebrate Clarence Darrow's Birthday!

Join us in the Law Library lobby on Tuesday, April 18, to celebrate Clarence Darrow's birthday!  

Come out and pick up cake, donuts, and coffee! In addition, take a quiz about Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), the great American trial lawyer, to learn more about his life and career. 

The celebration is due to the Law Library's preeminent national collection of more than 1,000 letters, as well as speeches, case material and writings by and related to Darrow, which are held in the Riesenfeld Center.  

Finally, don't forget to take a selfie with Clarence!  

When: Tuesday, April 18, 11 a.m - 1 p.m.
Where: Law Library Lobby
What: Donuts, cake, coffee, and a quiz!

Wednesday, April 5: Rare Books Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Center's April open house, this Wednesday, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.!

Enjoy snacks and drinks, and see treasures from the library's rare books and special collections. 

When: Wednesday, April 5, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center*
What: Rare books, bagged snacks and treats, and refreshments!

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

West Publishing and the History of Westlaw

Some of the great achievements in the history of legal publishing have been made in St. Paul, Minnesota, and around the Twin Cities. Fundamental to common law systems is of course access to court decisions, traditionally in the form of case reports. In the Anglo-American system, case reporting goes back to nearly the beginning of English common law in the Middle Ages. In America, Zephaniah Swift (1757-1804) published the first volume of American reports in 1789. Alexander Dallas (1759-1817) produced the first Supreme Court reports not long after, and the business of nominative reports (reports identified by the name of the individuals who created them) in the United States was born.

 

It was the dynamic figure of John B. West (1852-1922), however, who produced the system of national, standardized reporters that revolutionized American law reporting. West began selling law books in the early 1870s in downtown St. Paul. In 1876, West produced a weekly circular, The Syllabi, that reported notable Minnesota federal and state court decisions. In 1877, the publication expanded to include Wisconsin cases as The North-Western Reporter. The West Publishing Company soon introduced a uniform indexing system and case headnotes for its expanding regional reporters. Before long, these covered the whole nation in the form of the National Reporter System. The benefits brought by the system were immediately clear: American law was organized and searchable in a way that it had never been before. The rest was history: West Publishing became the leading legal publisher in the country, serving generations of the bench and bar. Under the aegis of Thomson Reuters, that tradition of legal publishing continues today.

 

In the early 1970s, another revolution transformed the legal publishing industry and would have equally wide effects. In this revolution, too, West Publishing Company played a leading role. The "second revolution" centered on the more widespread introduction of computers and automated searchable databases. Minnesota itself had become a hotbed in the 1960s for computer development, and West did not fail to take notice. In 1974, West Publishing developed a computer system to search case headnotes across its reporters, entering the market with its technology in 1975. The product, familiar everywhere today as Westlaw, marked the beginning of one of the most successful commercial legal tools developed. In 1978, locked in competition with Mead Data Corp., Westlaw began to provide full-text search for cases. In 1979, dial-up access to the database was offered over phone lines to its customers. By the early to mid-1980s, Westlaw terminals and the services it offered were becoming increasingly indispensable to American legal consumers. The rest, again, was history. Today Westlaw features more than 40,000 databases of information and is available in numerous countries across the world.

 

The history of the development of Westlaw, foundational to the larger history of legal publishing, requires an understanding of the challenges the system faced, the vision it required and the success it ultimately achieved. William Voedisch, who retired in 1996 as Manager of Technical Systems Development at West, was a key early developer of Westlaw, who has chronicled its early phases and some of the extraordinary work and decisions that went into creating it. Donated to the Law Library last year, Mr. Voedisch's narrative is a very important archival document, not only for the history of legal publishing and the development of database search capabilities that it documents, but for the history of computing itself and its inroads into key commercial markets, not least of which has been law. Voedisch's document, with permission of the author, is included below on the link. It will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of this history.

 

https://z.umn.edu/westlaw      

 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

  

   

Wednesday, March 15: Rare Books Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Center's March open house, this Wednesday, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.!

Enjoy snacks and drinks, and see treasures from the library's rare books and special collections. 

When: Wednesday, March 15, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center*
What: Rare books, bagged snacks and treats, and refreshments!

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

New Library Digital Exhibit: Law Books and the History of Legal Education

 The University of Minnesota Law Library is pleased to announce the release of a new digital exhibit:

"Tools of the Profession: Law Books and the History of Legal Education"

"Tools of the Profession" explores the history of legal education through literature that has profoundly shaped it. From statute books to casebooks, and from treatises to dictionaries, legal literature has developed not only to record the law and aid professionals in practice, but to guide students from the earliest stages of study.

The exhibit also showcases the reciprocal nature of legal literature and legal education. In England and on the continent, legal literature developed in response to and as a product of education. Literature in our own country has followed a similar path: even C. C. Langdell's famed "revolution" in legal education, still with us today, is first evident in his 1871 casebook on contracts. A selection of historical books illustrates transformative developments in legal education over several centuries.

An accompanying digital exhibit, "Legal Education at Minnesota," is drawn from the Law Library's rich archives. This exhibit highlights course books, lectures, exam prep material, and early exams that shed light on the history of legal education at the Law School. Selections from the Library's student notebook collection, in particular, reflect how students have engaged with the law through a tradition of dynamic classroom instruction.

The physical exhibit, on which the digital exhibit is based, will be open in the Riesenfeld Center through the spring semester. For more information about the exhibits, please contact Ryan Greenwood (rgreenwo@umn.edu, or 612-625-7323). The exhibits were curated by Ryan Greenwood, Pat Graybill, Lily Eisenthal, and Joy Brown. 

 

     

Legal History Prize: 2023 Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition

The Legal History and Rare Books (LH&RB) Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), in cooperation with Gale, a Cengage company, announces the Thirteenth Annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition. The competition is named in honor of Morris L. Cohen, late Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School. 

The competition is designed to encourage scholarship and to acquaint students with the AALL and law librarianship, and is open to students currently enrolled in accredited graduate programs in library science, law, history, and related fields. Essays may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives. The winner will receive a $1,000.00 prize from Gale, a Cengage company, and will be invited to present their paper to AALL members via webinar.
 
Winning and runner-up entries will be invited to submit their entries to UNBOUND: A Review of Legal History and Rare Books, the official journal of LH&RB. Past winning essays have gone on to be accepted by journals such as N.Y.U. Law Review, American Journal of Legal History, University of South Florida Law Review, William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and French Historical Review.

The entry form and instructions are available at the LH&RB website: www.aallnet.org/lhrbsis/awards-grants/. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m., May 15, 2023 (EDT).