Rare Newspapers in the Collection

Print newspapers are not always considered particularly collectible in libraries. But they are excellent time capsules for their historical moments and often record "firsts:" the first mention and immediate reaction to significant historical events. Legal events may seem less newsworthy than a moon landing, but some are special and deserve (and have received) attention. One of the most famous legal "firsts" in an American newspaper, the first publication of James Madison's June 8, 1789 draft amendments to the Constitution, were circulated in the June 13 issue of the United States Gazette. News of important legislation, court cases, and their resulting decisions can make for interesting, popular collection items; the three below are examples from our collections.    

The opening of the Northwest Territories was one such landmark event. The Territories themselves were established by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and renewed by a similar act in 1789. The historic legislation created what would become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota east of the Mississippi. The new 1789 Act was printed on September 3, 1789, in the Pennsylvania Packet, an influential early newspaper and the first successful daily in the young United States. Such circulation of the new law helped induce westward settlement, though this was sharply contested by the land claims of American Indians and led to periods of war and simmering conflict.

The National Intelligencer was a long-running and significant political reporter that published government documents and Congressional debates. Run by Joseph Gales and William Seaton, the Intelligencer was the official government printer when it first published the decision in Gibbons v. Ogden on March 6, 1824, marked also as its earliest printed announcement. The landmark constitutional case established the basic interpretation of the Commerce Clause, affirming the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

The Law Library's Clarence Darrow collection includes a wide variety of work related to Darrow's life and career, represented most extensively by his letters, as well as publications, briefs, speeches, personal books, and other material. It also contains selected newspaper accounts of major trials that he was involved in. Few were more notorious than his defense of Leopold and Loeb, the 1925 "thrill killers" who Darrow saved from the death penalty. Pictured is one issue from several papers in the collection that headlined the trials and focused the spotlight of national attention on it. These kinds of print media coverage can capture the contemporary interest and response to events whose white-hot celebrity is otherwise harder to communicate to audiences with the passage of time.  

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

An Early English Study Guide (1600)

As finals are nearing an end, the Library and Riesenfeld Center wishes good luck, and a happy holidays, to our students. The year has been a difficult one in many ways, and the pandemic is still with us. None of this has made the study of law easier. Though as the early modern English lawyer William Fulbecke reminds, all things worth doing - and particularly the study of law - are challenging. Fortunately, the going gets easier; Fulbecke writes in A Direction or Preparative to the Study of the Law (1600):

"For though the way were plain, yet to them that know it not, it is hard and difficult. And as the yoke is to the young steer heavy, not because he [ed.: she, he, or any individual!] is not able to bear it, but because he is unacquainted with the carrying of it, so young students [...] are somewhat troubled at the first: yet in continuance of time, by labour and some direction of veterans of the art, they pierce through the thorny fence or bar of these great difficulties..."

Fulbecke has other advice, for example on studying early instead of late, based on astrology and the ancient theory of the humors, which should probably be set aside. But his general encouragement is perhaps not out of place then or now.

Best wishes for a very good end of semester and holidays, and for a happy (and safer, healthier) 2021.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections 

Early Minnesota Law in the Scholarship Repository

The Riesenfeld Center has a series of early titles on Minnesota law that are now digitized in the Law School's scholarship repository. The Center holds an outstanding collection of early Minnesota law and some of the earliest state imprints. Statutes, orders, and other law-related materials are predominant among the early printed works of each US state, and Minnesota is no exception. 

During the woolly days of Minnesota's territorial government, James Goodhue, printer and editor of the state's first newspaper, also published its first legal works. As the first territorial printer, Goodhue filled an important role, circulating necessary information to a growing population. He was also a colorful character, with sharp opinions and strong politics. In one incident, from early 1851, he heatedly attacked two public figures (one of which was an associate justice on the territorial Supreme Court, David Cooper) in an editorial in his Minnesota Pioneer. The piece drew a sharp reaction: Justice Cooper's own brother confronted Goodhue over it on a St. Paul street. The altercation led to a fight in which Goodhue was stabbed and badly injured, and the other man was shot (both survived).

The early Minnesota law digitized in the scholarship repository is not (yet) the earliest, from the short-lived press of Goodhue, but represents other interesting material from the territorial era and early statehood. Included are a series of attorney general's reports to the legislature, which feature statistics on crime and notes on criminal cases. There is a copy of Minnesota's first constitution, Zebulon Pike's extremely rare 1805 treaty with the Sioux (printed in a government report), and other interesting Minnesotiana, including a grant for railroads and an elections case. We will continue to add early Minnesota law and other material.

I'm very grateful to my colleague, Scott Uhl, the Technology, Innovation & Reference Librarian, for setting up this dedicated section of the scholarship repository for rare collections. Finally many thanks are due to Alec Shaw ('19) for his good work in organizing and scanning these materials. 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

Halloween Rare Books Quiz!

Welcome to our Halloween Rare Books Quiz!  

Answer the (mostly) spooky questions below to be entered to win swag from the bookstore!

The most correct entry wins $25 worth of swag from the Law School bookstore (t-shirts, mugs, hats, keychains, etc., or a combination), with a drawing in case of ties. UMN law students only are eligible.

1. How many accounts, published in 1850, do we have in the rare books collection related to the notorious Webster-Parkman murder case? (search library 'catalog only,' and scope 'law library rare books')

2. The image below is from the first English statute to define witchcraft as a felony, passed in 1542 in the reign of Henry VIII.  To read the full penalty here at the end of the act, write out the last three lines correctly (preserving spelling in the text), after "and suffer such peines of death, losse and..."

3. This last item is a (characterically) whimsical gift we recently received from The Green Bag.  Short answer: tell us why these images (cat, dog, flower) were printed on the balloons, using the clues on both sides:

1. Green balloon - Cat - First Amendment - 915 F.3d 1120 (7th Cir.. 2019)

2. Orange balloon - Dog - Patent No. 1,780,104 - 7 F.Supp. 401 (D.N.J. 1934)

3. Yellow balloon - Flower - Trespass - 19 Johns. 381 (N.Y.  Sup. Ct. 1822)

*4. Blue balloon - Ship - Citizenship - 3 Dall. 133 (1795) 

(*Fun bonus question only: this quiz is long enough!)

Two New Library Digital Exhibits: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center are pleased to announce two new digital exhibits:

"Noted and Notable: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center"

and

"'Böcker Har Sina Öden' (Books Have Their Destinies): Treasures of the Swedish Law Collection at the Riesenfeld Center” 

The digital exhibits preserve and make available online the Riesenfeld Center's spring exhibits, highlighting treasures of the Law Library's special collections. In particular, the items in these exhibits have been chosen for their unusual value as artifacts, including such features as interesting annotations, associations with notable former owners, striking illustrations, beautiful bindings, and other properties that make historical law books fascinating objects that are worthy of study. 

"Böcker Har Sina Öden' (Books Have Their Destinies)," was curated by Professor Eric Bylander, who has been twice a visiting professor at the Law School and is Distinguished University Professor at the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University. "Noted and Notable: Treasures of the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center" is still open by appointment for viewing in the Riesenfeld Center.  

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

New Law Library Digital Exhibit: "Law and the Struggle for Racial Justice"

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center are pleased to announce a new digital exhibit: 

"Law and the Struggle for Racial Justice: Selected Materials from the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center"

The digital exhibit preserves online the Riesenfeld Center's new fall exhibit, which aims to continue a number of important and ongoing conversations at the Law School regarding race and the law. In particular, the exhibit draws on the extensive collections at the Riesenfeld Center to highlight important moments in the Black American struggle for racial justice, from the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit considers historical legal cases, legislation, and events that saw civil rights denied, limited, and advanced, from early anti-slavery movements, to the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 60s, and projects for police reform in the 1980s.  

The physical exhibit is also open by appointment this fall. For additional information on particular items in the exhibit, please see recent blog posts (here and here). For more information, please contact Ryan Greenwood (rgreenwo@umn.edu; 612-625-7323).

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

New Library Exhibit: "Law and the Struggle for Racial Justice"

The Law Library is pleased to announce a new exhibit now open in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center:  

"Law and the Struggle for Racial Justice: Selected Materials from the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center"

Despite founding ideals of freedom and common civil rights, the United States has a long history of systemic racial disenfranchisement. Many forms of exclusion and control based on race have been enforced by American law, deeply affecting the lived experience of minority communities. The unequal treatment of diverse racial and ethnic populations endures today, continuing to challenge us to critically examine our practices and beliefs and to recommit ourselves to a more fair and equal society.

"Law and the Struggle for Racial Justice" highlights material in the Center's collections related in particular to the Black American struggle for equal rights, as seen in historical cases, legislation, and the evolving aims and achievements of civil rights movements. The exhibit calls attention to historical exclusion, to moments of progress, and to ongoing obstacles faced by communities of color as they have sought racial justice. It is hoped that historical perspectives will stimulate further reflection on the scope of these challenges and help us to envision a future in which rights are fully and equally protected for all.

The exhibit is open by appointment, and a digital version of the exhibit will be released this fall.  For more on particular items in the exhibit, see several recent blog posts (here and here).  For more information, please contact Ryan Greenwood (rgreenwo@umn.edu; 612-625-7323).

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections