Friday, November 18, 2016

A Hairy Hand and Other Curios from HLS Special Collections.

[We have the following announcement.]

The Harvard Law School Library’s Historical & Special Collections is pleased to announce the opening of its newest exhibit, Deep Cuts: The B-Side of Historical & Special Collections. The exhibit steps away from the collection’s “A-side,” the rare books and early manuscripts that people expect to find here, and instead focuses on lesser-known parts of the collection that include some bizarre finds and hidden gems.

The exhibit includes a sculptograph of Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo ; an unappealing model of a hairy hand inspired by Hawkins v. McGee; and a rare 1957 vinyl record, James Garrett Wallace Sings of the Law and Lawyers. We invite you to view a selection of exhibit images online [here]. While there, listen to Wallace’s recording and view a 1979 U-matic videocassette entitled Langdell Legends, featuring numerous HLS professors, and Erwin Griswold]. Both of these were recently reformatted, and are part of a larger project we are undertaking to reformat our legacy audiovisual materials to preserve them and make them available to all.

The exhibit was curated by HSC staff: Karen Beck, Jessica Farrell, Jane Kelly, Edwin Moloy, Mary Person, and Lesley Schoenfeld. It will be on view in the Caspersen Room, Harvard Law School Library 4th floor, daily 9am-5pm through March 2017. If you are in the Boston area, please stop by and have a look!

[The Langdell Legends recording deserves special note.  Don't be misled by the title: "Langdell" refers to Langdell Hall and not the great dean.  The recording is about 45 minutes long and consists of excerpts from interviews on the subjects' role in the history of HLS.  The interviewees are Milton Katz, David R. Herwitz, Paul A. Freund, Andrew L. Kaufman, Livingston Hall, and David F. Cavers; David N. Smith, William L. Bruce; and Erwin N. Griswold.  Katz recalls taking over the Administrative Law course from James Landis and offering it, finally, to JD students.  Herwitz recalls the admission of women at HLS.  Andrew Kaufman recalls T. R. Powell and compares his teaching style to that of Felix Frankfurter.  DRE.]