Here in New England we are surrounded by greenery this time of year, which brings to mind these charming illustrations from an early manuscript compilation of English statutes. The Charter of the Forest, enacted in 1217, was considered a companion to Magna Carta and appears directly after it in this volume. The Charter re-established for free men rights …
Welcome to 2022! All of us at the Harvard Law School Library hope you had a fun, relaxing, and restorative holiday, and we are excited to see you in the new year. Because the university has transitioned to remote learning for January term, the HLS Library will be open on a reduced schedule of weekdays 9 to 5, …
In honor of #Facial Hair Friday and Movember, check out these images of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s magnificent mustache over the years. The first photograph, taken in 1872 when Holmes was in his early 30s, shows him the same year he married his wife, Fanny Bowditch Dixwell. His mustache is off to a good start: The second image …
Honoring Movember with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Read More »
It’s that time of year: We’re getting ready for our annual celebration of all things spooky, and you’re invited! Tour the Harvard Law School Library’s haunted history of wraiths, witches, and wicked works in an exciting Halloween-themed experience. Learn about creepy legal cases, view ghoulish and ghastly items from Historical & Special Collections, and prepare to be haunted …
On July 5, 2001, Judge Deborah Anne Batts (HLS ’72) sat for the artist Simmie Knox, who painted this portrait. It was given to the HLS Library in 2001 by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Alumni(ae) Committee of the Harvard Law School Association, and is on view in Pound Hall. Deborah Anne Batts (1947-2020) was sworn in as a …
Thirty years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 501 U.S. 663 (1991), a leading freedom of the press case in which the Court decided that freedom of the press does not exempt journalists from following generally applicable laws. Learn more about the background and significance of Cohen v. Cowles in our blog post …
Cohen v. Cowles Media and the Quill Pen Tradition Read More »
Harvard Law School class of 2021: You did it – we knew you would! We wish we could celebrate with you in person this year, but we will be cheering you on wherever you are. You are part of a long tradition: here are a few images of past HLS Commencements from the Library’s Historical & Special Collections. …
On this day twenty-one years ago, the Harvard Law School Forum hosted a panel discussion, “Innocent on Death Row: The Causes of and Remedies for Unjust Convictions.” HLS Professor Charles Nesson moderated the panel, which featured the late journalist Jim Dwyer; lawyers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, founders of the Innocence Project and authors of the book “Actual …
HLS Forum Video: Innocent on Death Row (March 15, 2000) Read More »
The Harvard Library has launched an exciting new crowdsourcing project, Transcribing Harvard Library, which aims to make more than 650,000 manuscript pages in its Colonial North America digital collection fully searchable. Sixteen Harvard libraries, including the Harvard Law School Library’s Historical & Special Collections, contributed their materials to the Colonial North America digital collection, creating a rich interdisciplinary …
Legal publishing in the United States has had a long history that has been dominated by two names West and Shepard. In this short video, you can learn about the ways that legal publishing in the United States has evolved over the past 200 years.