Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Brooker Collection Digitized

Boston College's law library houses a very cool collection of Early American legal and land use documents (the Robert E. Brooker Collection). Via the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room blog, we've learned that the collection is being digitized.

A recent update announced that over 1,000 documents are now available online.

Here's a taste of what you might find:

The collection, which Mr. Brooker painstakingly acquired over many years, features approximately 2,500 documents and manuscripts. Focused primarily on Boston and the New England area and spanning two centuries, the Brooker Collection provides abundant opportunity for the study of early American land use and transfers, law and legal systems, town governance, family matters and daily life.

Documents include deeds of land and other property, contracts for goods and services, legal documents such as complaints, deposition testimony and wills, business papers such as invoices and receipts, and evidence of everyday life as glimpsed in letters and estate inventories. The exhibit features items from all of these categories and is loosely organized by themes: The Land, The Law, Commerce and Contracts, The Community, Living and Dying, and Odds and Ends.

Happy digging!

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