This LibGuide is a selective list of primary and second sources related to the history of Harvard Law School and Harvard University. Direct links are provided for material that is available online.
More information can be found through Harvard University Archives research guides, Harvard History research guides, and the Harvard Radcliffe Online Historical Reference Shelf.
Historical & Special Collections
specialc@law.harvard.edu
(617) 495-4550
Harvard Law School Library
Langdell Hall
1545 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Lists Black graduates of Harvard Law School since the graduation of George Lewis Ruffin in 1869.
Lists alumnae from 1953 to 2013. For some, includes brief personal statements and career biographies.
Alumni/ae in Action: Harvard law School Graduates in Public Interest and Public Sector Work
Produced in 1991 and 1994 only. Survey responses of "a day in the life" of alumni working in public interest settings. Respondents are from a wide range of graduating classes.
Harvard Law School Class Reports (1883-present, irregular)
Lists class members and current employment at time of publication. Occasionally includes brief biographical statements. Generally published every five years, up to and including the fiftieth anniversary of graduation. For some classes, published more or less frequently than every five years. Class reports are restricted for eighty years after the graduation date.
Harvard Law School Year Book
Began in 1938, but not published 1942/1943-1944/1945. Includes membership of student organizations and journals as well as faculty. The last yearbook was published in 2012.
1870-1895 Christopher Columbus Langdell
1895-1910 James Barr Ames
1909-1910 Samuel Williston*
1910-1915 Ezra Ripley Thayer (died September 14, 1915)
1915-1916 Austin Wakeman Scott*
1916-1936 Roscoe Pound
1921-1922 Edward Henry Warren*
1925-1926 Joseph Warren*
1929-1929 Joseph Warren*
1929-1930 Joseph Henry Beale*
1936-1937 Edmund Morris Morgan*
1937-1946 James McCauley Landis
1942-1945 Edmund Morris Morgan*
1946-1967 Erwin Nathaniel Griswold (left to become Solicitor General of the United States)
1948-1948 Robert Amory, Jr.*
1959-1959 Livingston Hall*
1967-1968 Andrew James Casner*
1968-1971 Derek Curtis Bok (left to become President of Harvard University)
1971-1971 Albert Martin Sacks*
1971-1981 Albert Martin Sacks
1981-1989 James Vorenberg
1989-2003 Robert C. Clark
2003-2009 Elena Kagan (left to become Solicitor General of the United States)
2009-2009 Howell Edmunds Jackson*
2009-2017 Martha L. Minow
2017- John F. Manning
* Acting Dean
Partial Source: Harvard Law School. Endowments and Funds: A Catalogue (Cambridge, 1989)
Title: Records of the Office of the Dean, 1910-1982
Author / Creator: Harvard Law School. Office of the Dean.
Location: Harvard University Archives
Description: 368 containers
Notes: Access may be restricted. Finding aid and details about restrictions available at repository.
Summary: Includes official correspondence files of Deans Ezra R. Thayer, Roscoe Pound, J. M. Landis, Erwin N. Griswold, Andrew J. Casner, and Derek C. Bok. Thayer correspondence concerns routine matters, such as admissions and examinations. Correspondents include Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Julian Mack and William Howard Taft. Other correspondence concerns faculty appointments, staff, endowment; topics such as post-World War II planning and correspondence of the Vice Dean.
Historical & Special Collections holds many collections of papers created by former deans of the Law School. Not all collections contain material from the individual's time as dean, but span their earlier and later professional years.
Harvard Law School Faculty (1992-present)
Faculty directory with pictures. Published annually since 1992.
Harvard Law School Faculty & Staff (1987-2007)
Faculty and staff directory with pictures. Published annually since 1987. Ceased with 2006/2007 issue.
Harvard Law School Year Book
Began in 1938, but not published 1942/1943-1944/1945. Includes membership of student organizations and journals as well as faculty.
The Inception of Modern Professional Education: C.C. Langdell, 1826-1906 (2009)
By Bruce A. Kimball.
The first full-length biography of the School's first Dean, with much information on the history of the School.
The Harvard Law School ... With portraits of Members of the Faculty, and a biographical record and portraits of representative living graduates (1897)
By Eliot Norton.
Most of the book is made up of portraits and brief explanations of the lives of then living HLS alumni. Also includes a brief history of the Law School.
Full text is available through Google Books.
Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University
Lists alumni from 1817-1953. Lists faculty from founding until 1953. Continued in 1958 by the Alumni Directory of the Harvard Law School.
Full text is available through Google Books.
The Development of Harvard University since the inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929
Edited by Samuel Eliot Morison (1930)
See Chapter 30, "The Law School 1817-1929"
The Law at Harvard : A History of Ideas and Men, 1817-1967
By Arthur E. Sutherland (1967)
The High Citadel: The Influence of Harvard Law School
By Joel Seligman, with the assistance of Lynne Bernabei; Introduction by Ralph Nader (1978)
Logic and Experience: The Origin of Modern American Legal Education, 1800-1920
By William P. LaPiana (1994)
On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, the first century
By Daniel R. Coquillette, Bruce A. Kimball (2015)
The Intellectual Sword: Harvard Law School, the second century
By Bruce A. Kimball, Daniel R. Coquillette (2020)
History of the Harvard Law School and of Early Legal Conditions in America
By Charles Warren, 1908.
Full text of volumes 1-3 is available through Google Books and The Making of Modern Law.
The Centennial History of the Harvard Law School, 1817-1917
1918
Full text is available through Google Books.
The Harvard Law School Record is the oldest law school-affiliated newspaper in the United States. It has gone through a number of small names changes; from September 2002-2008 the name on the masthead was "The Record." It includes Law School, national, and international news; scholarly articles; op-eds written by Harvard Law School students, professors, and guest contributors. Over the years, it has also published several special editions, including an annual April Fool's Day issue, orientation issue, and career guides. From fall 2011 through 2014 the Harvard Law Record ceased print publication and was exclusively online. In September 2015 print publication resumed with a new volume numbering system.
Search digitized issues of the HLS student paper (July 1946-November 2001)
More recent issues (2002-present) can be found by searching HLRecord.org. Generally speaking, online content for the The Record is not organized by issue. As of spring 2020, the following issues can be viewed in their entirety in the "PRINT" section of the Harvard Law Record website.
The Bulletin has been published since April 1948 and is currently published two times per year. In previous years it was issued quarterly and in some cases six times per year. The magazine features articles on HLS alumni/ae, campus events, and fundraising; it also includes class notes and obituaries. Beginning in the fall of 1997, the Bulletin was made available both in print and online.
Access to digitized issues prior to 1997 is available to Harvard affiliates only.
Harvard Law Today is an alumni newsletter published bimonthly by the Harvard Law School Office of Communications since September 2001.
Harvard Law Today (2001-) - HOLLIS catalog record
Harvard Law Today online (2001-)
Before the Law School had its own course catalog, the Law School curriculum was included in the University catalog. For those years when we do not have Law School catalogs, try consulting the University catalog; the information in many of the Law School’s early catalogs was identical to the University catalog.
Harvard Law School Handbook of Academic Programs & Policies (2005/2006)
Handbook of Academic Policies (Current Academic Year)
Harvard University General Catalogue,1978 - HOLLIS catalog record
The Harvard Presidents' reports cover 1825-1995. Most of the reports, up to and including the 1985/1986 issue, contain not only the report of the President of Harvard University, but also reports from the various Harvard faculties and departments.
The Harvard Treasurers' reports cover 1830-1995. The reports contain detailed information about the University's income and expenses, including information about endowments and gifts.
Radcliffe Presidents' reports cover 1879-1988. The reports also contain reports of the Radcliffe Treasurer from 1879/80 through 1959/60.
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HARVARD PRESIDENTS REPORTS, 1826-1995
HARVARD TREASURERS REPORTS, 1830-1995
Fund and gift supplement to the financial report for the fiscal year 1979/1980 - 1994/1995
Radcliffe Presidents reports, 1879-1988 The reports also contain reports of the Radcliffe Treasurer from 1879/80 through 1959/60.
Radcliffe Treasurers reports, 1960/61 through 1987/88
A joint project of the Harvard University Archives and the Schlesinger LIbrary, this site provides access to frequently-consulted sources on the history of Harvard and Radcliffe.
Sources of note include Harvard Presidents' reports, 1825-1995. Most of these reports, up to and including the 1985/1986 issue, not only contain the report of the President of Harvard University, but also reports from the various Harvard faculties and departments, including the Law School.
Law School reports from the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century include the following:
• Number of students enrolled
• Number and types of degrees conferred
• Required courses, including faculty and textbook information, and how often the class met
• Curriculum changes
• Updates on the Library
• Description of art holdings, including: paintings, etchings, photographs, etc.
The Harvard Presidents' reports cover 1825-1995. Most of the reports, up to and including the 1985/1986 issue, contain not only the report of the President of Harvard University, but also reports from the various Harvard faculties and departments.
The Harvard Treasurers' reports cover 1830-1995. The reports contain detailed information about the University's income and expenses, including information about endowments and gifts.
Radcliffe Presidents' reports cover 1879-1988. The reports also contain reports of the Radcliffe Treasurer from 1879/80 through 1959/60.
Search results may take up to 45 seconds to display.
Combine search terms with:
HARVARD PRESIDENTS REPORTS, 1826-1995
HARVARD TREASURERS REPORTS, 1830-1995
Fund and gift supplement to the financial report for the fiscal year 1979/1980 - 1994/1995
Radcliffe Presidents reports, 1879-1988 The reports also contain reports of the Radcliffe Treasurer from 1879/80 through 1959/60.
Radcliffe Treasurers reports, 1960/61 through 1987/88