Thursday, March 14, 2024

Little on Law Libraries in Early Indiana

Lee R. Little, Research and Instructional Services Librarian, Ruth Lilly Law Library, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law has published Work Hard and Die Poor: The History of Law Libraries in Indiana in the Indiana Law Review 57 (2023): 97-138:

Isaac Blackford (wiki)
 Printed legal materials have been utilized by practitioners since the dawn of the Anglo-European legal system in what is now the United States. When Indiana was opened for settlement, attorneys and judges brought their private libraries to the state. These initial collections were much smaller than the robust and extensive law libraries that existed in the state prior to the advent of digital legal resources. This paper tracks the development of law libraries in Indiana from the territorial period through the present day, along with the social and economic trends that impacted library development.

--Dan Ernst