2007 Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History
University of Wisconsin Law School – Madison, Wisconsin
Tentative Dates: June 10-22, 2007
Deadline: Jan. 15, 2007
Cosponsored by The American Society for Legal History and The Institute for Legal Studies The American Society for Legal History and the Institute for Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School are pleased to invite applications for the fourth biennial J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History. The purpose of the Hurst Summer Institute is to advance the approach to legal scholarship fostered by J. Willard Hurst in his teaching, mentoring, and scholarship. The "Hurstian perspective" emphasizes the importance of understanding law in context; it is less concerned with the characteristics of law as developed by formal legal institutions than with the way in which positive law manifests itself as the "law in action." The Hurst Summer Institute assists scholars from law, history, and other disciplines in pursuing research in legal history.
The previous three Hurst Institute sessions were led by distinguished legal history scholars Lawrence M. Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University, and Robert W. Gordon, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale University. We are pleased to announce that Barbara Welke, Associate Professor in History and Law at the University of Minnesota, will lead the 2007 session. Guest scholars will include Lawrence Friedman as well as Dirk Hartog, Holly Brewer, and Margot Canaday. The two week program is structured but informal, and features discussions of core readings in legal history and analysis of the work of the participants in the Institute.
The general format includes daily sessions Monday-Friday that run through early afternoon, a few scheduled social events, and ample free time for additional discussion, reading and research. Fellows will have the opportunity to conduct archival work at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Society holds a vast array of primary documents and is particularly strong in areas involving nineteenth and twentieth century social movements and labor activism. In addition, the Library possesses an excellent collection of federal and state government material which is largely un-cataloged. The Society offers open stacks, liberal copying policies, and is open six days a week. The ASLH Hurst Selection Committee will select up to twelve Fellows to participate in this event.
