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Legal History: Guide to Online Databases Georgetown University Law Library 2008

Revised: January 2008

This guide is the result of trying to fit too many details about the growing number of extraordinary and useful digital collections and online historical available online. Instead of making specific legal history research guides longer and more cumbersome to use, this Online Guide separates out those databases and digital collections found particularly useful to help all legal history researchers, no matter the concentration.

This list is a selection of online databases available through the following web sites:

 

Several are databases on CD-ROMs and only available through a limited number of the Law Library workstations. Contact the Special Collections Librarian for assistance. There are many others, but these are the most relevant to legal history research.

For the Lauinger Library databases, most are accessible off-campus:
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/indexes/instructions/offcampus/index.htm

Some must be used either at the Williams or Wolff Law Libraries or Lauinger Library. Check with the Special Collections Librarian or a member of the Reference Departments in Williams and Wolff Libraries for more details or assistance in using these databases.

I. Georgetown University Law Library

Some of these databases are located at the main campus Lauinger Library but can be accessed directly from the Law Library's catalog.

19th Century Masterfile
http://0-poolesplus.odyssi.com.gull.georgetown.edu/
This is a very large "Index of Indexes," the largest resource for historical research up to 1925. Some of the indexes in this master file include:

  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906)
  • Jones & Chipman's Index to Legal Periodical Literature (1786-1922)
  • New York times Index (1863-1905)
  • Palmer's Index to the Times (London) (1880-1890)
  • Harpers Magazine Index (1850-1892)
  • Atlantic Monthly Index (1857-1901)
  • North American Review (1815-1877)

    Academic Search Premier
    http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/academic.cfm
    Provides full text for 3,467 publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences, humanities, education, and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

America: History & Life
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/ahl.cfm
Abstracts of scholarly literature on the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from pre-historic times to the present. You can switch to Historical Abstracts as well.

Archives USA
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/archives.cfm
From ProQuest UMI, this is a tool that combines three major information resources: Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States (DAMRUS), National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), and National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (NIDS).

Biography Resource Center
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/biography.cfm
Biographies of 150,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.

Britannica Online
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/britannica.cfm
Full text of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Searchable, with cross-links to other web sites.

Cambridge Journals Online
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/journals/cambridgelist.cfm
This database gives access to over 220 peer-reviewed academic journals published by the Cambridge University Press.

Early American Imprints (Series I): Evans, 1639-1800
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.gull.georgetown.edu/?db=EVAN&s_startsearch=customize
Taken from the Evans American Bibliography, this full-text database collection contains all known existing books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed in the United States or in the British American colonies before Independence from 1639 through 1819.

FirstSearch
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/firstsearch.cfm
Access to over 70 online databases. Use FirstSearch to access the Inter-Library Loan system (ILL).

HarpWeek: Harper's Weekly, 1857-1912
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/harpweek.cfm
Full text of Harper's Weekly from 1857-1912. A great 19th century newspaper source.

HeinOnline
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/hein_access.cfm
HeinOnline provides legal researchers with collections of the earliest legal periodicals and other legal classics that are out-of-print or hard to obtain in hardcopy. The full-text databases in HeinOnline now include:

  • Law Journal Library
  • English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1865); also available from LLMC Digital

(http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/llmc.cfm), and from English Reports
(KD270 1220 .E64 Electronic) on CD-ROM in Special Collections. This version is the best of the three.

  • Legal Classics
  • U.S. Congressional Documents
    • Annals of the Congress of the United States
    • Register of Debates in Congress
    • Congressional Globe
    • Congressional Record
    • Congressional Record Daily
    • U.S. Statutes at Large
    • American State Papers
    • Journals of the Continental Congress
  • U.S. Presidential Library
  • U.S. Statutes at Large
  • World Trials

Historical Abstracts
http://0-serials.abc-clio.com.gull.georgetown.edu/active/start?_appname=serials&initialdb=HA
Indexes and abstracts, articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations dealing with non-U.S. history from 1450 to the present. 1982-. You can switch to America, History and Life as well.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
http://0-web5s.silverplatter.com.gull.georgetown.edu/webspirs/start.ws?customer=c195468&databases=IFLP
This index gives topical access to approximately 470 international and comparative law periodicals and 26 collections of essays. Coverage begins in 1985. Currently access via the Law Library's Online Collection page does not work. Access via the Law Library's catalog through the title Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.

International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP)
http://0-iibp.chadwyck.com.gull.georgetown.edu/
This database provides listings of articles from as far back as 1900. It includes bibliographic citations and abstracts from scholarly journals and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean and full text coverage of core Black Studies periodicals. Coverage is international in scope and multidisciplinary spanning cultural, economic, historical, religious, social, and political issues of vital importance to the Black Studies discipline.

JSTOR
http://0-www.jstor.org.gull.georgetown.edu/
Journal STORage -- full text backfiles of significant scholarly journals. See list of titles currently available.

Legal Journals Index (formerly CLI)
http://0-www.ll.georgetown.edu.gull.georgetown.edu/research/research_passwords.cfm
Note: This database requires a password. The LJI Web database, which is part of the Current Legal Information service, comprises entries from both Legal Journals Index and European Legal Journals Index. These provide citations and brief abstracts to over 320 periodicals published in the UK (1986 - present) and Europe (1993 - present).

Legal Periodicals & Books (formerly ILP)
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/ilp.cfm
Citations to articles from over 700 legal publications, plus monographs published in 1993 or later. Periodical coverage begins in August 1981.

Legal Periodicals & Books Retrospective
http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.gull.georgetown.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?un=AXC30&pw=UNDC091445
Citations to articles dating back to the 1880s through 1981. This database, along with the one above can be used together through WilsonWeb.

LegalTrac (formerly Legal Resource Index)
http://0-web4.infotrac.galegroup.com.gull.georgetown.edu/itw/infomark/0/1/1/purl=rc6_LT?sw_aep=gtown_law
Cumulative indexing of approximately 800 legal publications. Also includes law related articles from more than 1,000 additional business and general interest periodicals. Coverage begins in 1980.

LexisNexis Congressional (formerly Congressional Universe)
http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool
Congressional publications, including hearings, reports, prints and documents and the CIS legislative histories. Also: information about current members of Congress and congressional committees; hot bills and topics; National Journal; and CongressDaily.
Specifically:
· CIS Index: CIS indexing and abstracting of congressional publications and the CIS Legislative Histories (1970-present)
· Historical Full Text: Full text of U.S. Congressional Serial Set and American State Papers (1789-1969: database to be completed by Dec. 2005; check current coverage)
· Historical Indexes: Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969, and Indexes to Unpublished Hearings Through 1980.

LLMC Digital
http://0-ets.umdl.umich.edu.gull.georgetown.edu/l/llmc/
This electronic database of historical legal materials contains case reporters, some statutes of the U.S. and selected foreign nations, U.S. government documents, and many other legal materials. A rich source for legal history researchers. It includes the English Reports. The English Reports are also available on CD-ROM in the Special Collections Reading Room, via a different publisher. Check with the Special Collections Librarian on how to use and navigate through this database.

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926
http://0-infotrac.galegroup.com.gull.georgetown.edu/itweb/gtown_law?db=MOML
Provides digital images on every page of 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law published from 1800 through 1926.

Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Briefs, 1832-1978
http://0-infotrac.galegroup.com.gull.georgetown.edu/itweb/gtown_law?db=SCRB
This database contains nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court for 1832-1978.

New York Times Historical (1851-2001)
http://0-www.umi.com.gull.georgetown.edu/pqdauto?COPT=UOZEPTImU01EPTQmSU5UPTAmREJTPTFBQ0Q@
Through ProQuest, the Historical Newspapers. The New York Times (1851-2001) can be searched by keyword, author, title, as well as advertisements, photographs and obituaries.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB)
http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.gull.georgetown.edu/subscribed/
An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2001.

Periodicals Index Online
http://0-pio.chadwyck.com.gull.georgetown.edu/home.do
Formerly the Periodicals Content Index, this is a searchable index to articles in nearly 4000 journals.

Project Muse
http://0-muse.jhu.edu.gull.georgetown.edu/
Complete articles from The Johns Hopkins University Press's 40+ scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.

ProQuest Research Library
http://0-proquest.umi.com.gull.georgetown.edu/login?COPT=U01EPTYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTImREJTPUc2KzE5RSsxOUYrMUEwKzFBMSsxQTIrMUEzKzFBNCsxQTUrMUE2KzFBNysyMTgr
On UMI's ProQuest Direct. Indexes and abstracts of articles in more than 1800 general publications, with varying coverage dates, most beginning in the late 1980s. Also, complete articles for approximately 200 popular periodicals. Most of the periodicals are non-legal, but many are historical.

Reader's Guide Retrospective
http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.gull.georgetown.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?un=AXC30&pw=UNDC091445
Index of general interest periodicals from 1890 to 1982. Equivalent of the printed Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.

Wall Street Journal Historical (1889-1989)
http://0-proquest.umi.com.gull.georgetown.edu/login?COPT=REJTPTFhY2MmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=5600
Access through ProQuest. This database is searchable by keyword, author, title, as well as advertisements and obituaries.

Washington Post Historical (1877-1988)
http://0-proquest.umi.com.gull.georgetown.edu/login?COPT=REJTPTI2OGEmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=5600
Access through ProQuest. Does not include the Washington Star, which went out of business in the 1980s and was purchased by the Post. It can be searched by keyword, author, title, as well as advertisements, photographs and obituaries

Westlaw
http://web2.westlaw.com/signon/default.wl?newdoor=true

WilsonWeb Journal Indexes
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/wilson.cfm

Library subscribes to Humanities Index and Social Sciences Index.

WorldCat
http://0-newfirstsearch.oclc.org.gull.georgetown.edu/FSIP/
Amalgamation of library catalogs from most of the larger libraries in the U.S. See FirstSearch above.

II. Georgetown University Lauinger Library

Many of these databases are available on and off-campus, i.e., the Law Center or the Medical Center. If you are accessing these databases from home or from the University's other campuses, such as the Law Center, you may need to log in with your Georgetown ID and password. Where indicated, you may have to actually go to Lauinger Library to access a particular database or use Firefox as your web browser.

Abbreviationes
http://0-macg4cube.gpam.ruhr-uni-bochum.de.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/abbrev.php
A somewhat useful dictionary of Medieval Latin abbreviations.

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive
http://0-accuweather.ap.org.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl
This is one of two online collections of photographs, sound bites, and graphics available to the Georgetown University community. The other is Corvis (see below). This AP Archives includes over 1 million photos some dating back to 1826, thousands of graphics, and audio files dating from the 1920s.

African-American Biographical Database (AABD)
http://0-aabd.chadwyck.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
This includes full-text biographies of thousands of African Americans, many not found in any other reference source. Coverage dates are 1790-1950.

American Periodicals Series Online
http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/pqdweb?RQT=575&TS=1089143595&clientId=5604&DBId=5197&LASTSRCHMODE=2
This database includes "digital images of historically significant American periodicals from 1740 to 1900, [eventually to 1941]"

Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective
http://0-www.accessible.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/search/prdcls.asp?s=525842350
Full text collection of selected Civil War era articles from the Charleston Mercury, the New York Herald, and the Richmond Enquirer, published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865.

Corbis Images for Education: Historical Collection
http://0-infotrac.galegroup.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/itweb/wash43584?db=CRBE
This collection includes about 400,000 images from such collections as the Bettmann Archive, United Press International (UPI), and the Hulton Deutsch Collection. Images are copyright restricted for educational use only. See AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive above for another collection of images.

Database of Latin Dictionaries
http://0-www.brepolis.net.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
Online collection of Latin dictionaries, including Blaise-Patristic (Dictionnaire latin-francaise des auteurs chrétiens, 1954, 1967, 2005), Firmini Verris Dictionarius (Dictionnaire médiéval latin-français, 1440), and Du Cange (Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, ed. 1883-1887). Use with Abbreviationes, listed above, for Latin abbreviations.

Declassified Documents
http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/servlet/DDRS?locID=wash43584
Available from Thomson-Gale, this database gives access to post- World War II papers from the CIA, the FBI and other agencies, garnered mostly from presidential libraries. Events covered include the Cold War, Vietnam, and the civil rights movement.

Dissertations & Theses 1861-.
http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/login?COPT=REJTPUcyODcrNTRlNyszYjBmJklOVD0wJlZFUj0y&clientId=5604
Electronic equivalent of Dissertation Abstracts International. Beginning with the first U.S. dissertation in 1861, Digital Dissertations represents the work of authors from over 1,000 North American and European universities on a full range of academic subjects.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) 
http://0-eebo.chadwyck.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
Full-text electronic collection of images of all books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in the English language in any country from 1475 through 1700 Full text or some full text.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/servlet/ECCO?locID=wash43584
Digital images of every page of 150,000 books published during the 18th Century. Includes full-text searching of approximately 26 million pages. Covers the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more. Must use Firefox browser.

Historical Statistics of the U.S. 
http://0-hsus.cambridge.org.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/HSUSWeb/index.do
Based on the 5 volume printed edition of 2006, which is in Reference, this is an invaluable work in the field of historical statistics, from colonial times to 2000.

Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?prod=HSR
This is an index to cites of articles from English-language periodicals, 1907 to 1984.

Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
http://0-www.itergateway.org.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
This is a useful bibliography of more than 225,000 articles and reviews from over 300 medieval and renaissance journal titles. It is updated annually.

Lexikon des Mittelalters Online (LexMA)
http://0-www.brepolis.net.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
This is the standard encyclopedia for medieval studies, covering the European Middle Ages and the ancient roots of Western, Byzantine, Arab, Islamic and Jewish culture. Part of the larger Brepolis Medieval Encyclopaedias, which includes LexMA Online; International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages; and Europa Sacra (coverage of medieval Church prelates from the Early Church to the Reformation, including information on all 1300 medieval bishoprics, archdioceses and patriarchates under obedience to Rome). The dates of coverage are 200-1500 AD (CE)

Making of the Modern World: Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature 1450-1850
http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/servlet/MOME?locID=wash43584
Collection of digital facsimile images on every page of 61,000 works of literature on economics and business published from 1450 through 1850.

Middle English Compendium
http://0-www.hti.umich.edu.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/mec/
This resource provides hyperlinks between three major Middle English electronic resources:

  • Electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary (MED) – this is “a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500."
  • HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse (based on the MED bibliographies) - Includes all the Middle English materials cited in the MED.
  • Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse - a growing collection of Middle English electronic texts eventually to include all editions of Middle English texts used in the MED and the more recent scholarly editions that may have superseded them.

Periodical Indexes Online (1770-1995)
http://0-pio.chadwyck.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/
Tables of contents for older issues of international humanities and social sciences periodicals.

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/wash43584?db=BBCN
This is a large collection of newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (b. 1757-d. 1817). Most were published in London but some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, as well as a handful of examples from the American colonies are included. This is trial database, available until 01/31/08.

19th Century British Library Newspapers
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/wash43584?db=BNCN
This is a collection of 48 nationally, regionally, and locally important digitized British newspapers from 1800-1900. This is trial database, available until 01/31/08.

Times Digital Archive The Times [of London]. 1785-1870.
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/wash43584?db=ttda
Full text or some full text. Full Text Online links to an image of the full text for years 1785-1870. Includes citations for every article in every issue of The Times newspaper from 1790-1905.

Victorian Database Online 1830-1914
http://0-www.victoriandatabase.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/victoria.html
Indexes publications about all aspects of British Victorian studies (1830–1914). Interdisciplinary in scope and updated annually, the Victorian Database Online provides bibliographic information for publications about all aspects of British studies from 1830 to 1914.

Women Writers Online 1400-1850
http://0-www.wwp.brown.edu.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/texts/wwoentry.html
The textbase of the Women Writers Project at Brown University, Women Writers Online provides full-text editions of more than 200 English-language works written by women between 1400 and 1850.

III. Internet

These databases are on the Internet and free to use, without passwords needed.

American On-line Resources-University of Chicago
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/legalhistory/online_sources.html

Anglo-American Legal Tradition
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT.html

Avalon Project

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
The Avalon Project at Yale University provides the text of documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. Included in the collections are documents dated pre-1800 through the 20th Century.

Behind the Locked Door of an American Grand Jury: Its History, Its Secrecy and Its Process
http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawreview/frames/241/kaditxt.html
This is a journal article written by Mark Kadish, reproduced from 24 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1 (1996).

The Bentham Project
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/
This web site is devoted to Jeremy Bentham in England, and includes some interesting information on works in progress, and other attempts at digitizing texts. It is also a very good portal to other digitized works by Bentham: For instance, you can see a digitized version of his Rationale for Punishment, published in 1830, from an original French work, La Théorie des Peines, (1811), at
http://www.la.utexas.edu/labyrinth/rp/index.html through this web site.

Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) BN-Opale Plus
http://www.bnf.fr/default.htm
The National Library of France (BNF) has made many early books and manuscripts available in digital format, at no cost, in pdf format, through its BN-Opale catalog. You must be able to read French, but an English version of the catalog is also available. For assistance in using this catalog, contact the Special Collections Librarian.

British History

http://www.britannia.com/history/
Britannia provides documentary history of England and includes commentary and full-text of significant charters, histories, chronicles, accounts, laws and summonses.

British Legal History Guide
http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/resources_history.php

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Collection

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html
This web site at the Library of Congress consists of series of published congressional records of the United States, from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875. All of them are browsable and searchable. They include:

  • The Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-89)
  • The Letters of Delegates to Congress (1774-89)
  • Farrand's Records, and the Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (1787-88)
  • Elliot's Debates
  • The Journals of the House of Representatives (1789-1875)
  • The Journals of the Senate (1789-1875)
  • The debates of Congress as published in the Annals of Congress (1789-1824)
  • The Register of Debates (1824-37)
  • Congressional Globe (1833-73)
  • Congressional Record (1873-75)
  • The Statutes at Large (1789-1875)
  • The American State Papers (1789-1838)
  • Congressional bills and resolutions for selected sessions beginning with the 6th Congress (1799) in the House of Representatives and the 16th Congress (1819) in the Senate
  • A select number of documents and reports from the monumental U.S. Congressional Serial Set are available as well

Chicago Anarchists on Trial-Evidence From the Haymarket Affair, 1886-1887
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ichihtml/hayhome.html
This collection concentrates on digital images of original manuscripts, broadsides, photographs, prints and artifacts relating to the Haymarket Affair. The violent confrontation between Chicago police and labor protesters in 1886 proved to be a pivotal setback in the struggle for American workers' rights.

Coles County Legal History Project
http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/links/cached/appendix/a3_colescounty.htm
The Coles County Legal History Project (CCLHP) is an on-going investigation by student researchers and history professors at Eastern Illinois University and elsewhere of legal documents from an Illinois county (primarily during the 19th century), which are being entered into an online database. The database is free and accessible to the public. Coles County was created in 1830 and civil and criminal cases date from that year onwards. It also reveals the impact of settlement, railroad construction and use, the Civil War, integration with Chicago and other markets, and a comparative base for study of the law practice of Abraham Lincoln, as well as many other historical questions. Searchable by date, plaintiff and defendant names and case type. This database however has not been updated since 2002.

Colonial Connecticut Records (1636-1776)
http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/

Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) - The American Jury Bulwark of Democracy

http://www.crfc.org/americanjury/origins.html

This is an interesting online resource guide "for teachers, students, and citizens devoted to explaining the American jury system and its role in American legal, social, and political life." Although it is in a teaching format, with lessons, it includes digital resources developed by the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago with high school teachers from California, Colorado, North Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin, and Illinois in cooperation with national experts and scholars on the jury system. Each lesson includes digital editions of major jury trials, and other secondary resources of excellent use for anyone studying the history of the American jury system, at the high school level or above.

Cornell University - Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/

Cornell University - Witchcraft Collection
http://dlxs2.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/index.html
This is a small selection of digitized titles from the Cornell University Library's extensive collection of materials on Witchcraft.

D'Angelo Law Library, Legal History Sources - American Legal History Research Guide - University of Chicago and Chicago Area Libraries and Archives (PDF)
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/history.html
Although created specifically for the University of Chicago law students, this guide to legal history sources has many important American documents transcribed and available from other resources, including inaugural addresses of Presidents, the Federalist Papers and others.

The Duluth Lynchings Online Resource

http://collections.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/index.htm

This is a complete collection of relevant materials in the Duluth Lynchings, an incident that happened in Duluth, Minnesota on June 15, 1920.  Sponsored by the Clayton, Jackson, McGhie Memorial Committee (CJMMC, a citizen group dedicated to the remembrance of the three lynching victims, and the Duluth Branch of the NAACP, the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) has created this web site "to provide an in-depth and scholarly resource of primary source materials on the subject."

Early Modern Resources (England)
http://www.earlymodernweb.org.uk/emr/index.php/category/themes/law-order/
This is a gateway site for the study of the early modern period (c.1500-1800) in England, It is updated fairly regularly, unlike many other sites. One nice feature is to be able to find an archived version of a site that has disappeared, at The Wayback Machine, http://www.archive.org/web/web.php. The author of the website, Dr. Sharon Howard is the project manager at the University of Sheffield, for two major digital primary source projects here.  Other digital projects include the Last Mile Tours: Capital Punishment in Eighteenth-century England, a student project that has digital versions of Newgate Prison confessions.

Famous Trials

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/ftrials.htm
The materials in the Famous Trials website include original works, government records, and works "for which copyright protection has expired, works reprinted with permission, or works that are within the fair use protection of the copyright laws." It is maintained at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, and is the result of Professor Doug Linder’s Seminar in Famous Trials.

Federal Judiciary Center

http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf
The Federal Judiciary Center, located at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Cir NE, is right next to the Union Station. The Federal Judiciary History Office works on all the federal courts histories, and has made available on its web site biographical materials, historical materials on all the courts, as well as links to these courts' official web sites. It is a good place to go for court histories.  There are some oral histories available as well. Click on Biographies of federal judges since 1789, Histories of individual courts, or Landmark legislation.

Guide to Law and Legal Resources, National Archives (US)
http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/law.html

H-Albion
http://www.h-net.org/~albion/
H-Albion is part of the H-Net family of discussion groups such as H-Law. It is devoted to everything and anything English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish. A good place to go, especially when you have a thorny question you cannot answer through your own means.

H-Law
http://www.h-net.org/~law/
H-Law is the History of Law Humanities web site, which is a very good starting point. It has a powerful and exhaustive “archive of websites important for legal and constitutional historians." It includes links to major institutions in the United States, England and Europe, history departments, manuscripts and archival collections, state archives and historical societies, law libraries as well as codes, the FBI, and the National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections (NUCMUC).

Historic Supreme Court Decisions - by Justice

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/judges.htm
The Historic Supreme Court Decisions - by Justice includes a list of all the justices who have served on the Supreme Court, and their decisions, with a brief biography. Sponsored by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University.

INFOMINE (Scholarly Internet Resource Collections)
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
This is a virtual library of Internet resources for faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information.

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook-law.html

Internet Islamic History Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html#The%20Ottomans

Internet Medieval Sourcebook

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook-law.html
Fordham's Medieval Legal History page collects various online texts related to the history of law. This site is now part of ORB, the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.

Iuscivile (Roman Law Resources)
http://iuscivile.com/
This site from the University of Aberdeen is edited by Professor Ernest Metzger. It is a wonderful and quite exhaustive resource on Roman law resources online, in hardcopy, and on CD-ROM. It is in English and in German.

Legal History Blog
http://legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/
"Scholarship, News and New Ideas in Legal History." Created by Mary L. Dudziak, Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Professor of Law, History and Political Science, University of Southern California, it is an excellent place for lively discussions on many legal history topics, but also a good source of resources.

The Legal History Project
http://www.legalhistory.com/index.html
Started in 2005 by Peter C. Hansen, the Legal History Project is a gateway that promotes "legal history's study and teaching, by amplifying the best voices in the field, and by helping to educate those seeking knowledge." It "will generate and support initiatives to increase the number and quality of legal history courses available in law schools and other humanities programs. It will promote the diffusion and elucidation of legal history texts."
It includes a blog, a list of legal history resources and Legal History Centers, legal history programs at law schools, and courses offered at select schools. It also includes a good list of "Online Legal History Texts Resources." A good place to search.

Legal History: The Year Books
http://www.bu.edu/law/faculty/scholarship/yearbooks/
David J. Seipp, comp. An Index and Paraphrase of Printed Year Book Reports, 1268 -1535 (Seipp's Abridgement)
Year Books are the law reports of medieval England. The earliest examples date from about 1268, and the last in the printed series are for the year 1535. The Year Books are our principal source materials for the development of legal doctrines, concepts, and methods from 1290 to 1535, a period during which the common law developed into recognizable form. More than 22,000 individual reports or 'pleas' have been printed, and others remain in manuscript. This database indexes all year book reports printed in the chronological series for all years between 1268 and 1535, and many of the year book reports printed only in alphabetical abridgements. Of these reports, almost 6,000 from 1399 forward have been fully indexed and paraphrased in this database. (Legal History: The Year Books). This database is keyword searcheable, but be aware that you may have to chose your search terms very carefully. Knowledge of Law-French and latin is helpful. A bibliography is included.

Lex Scripta – Legal History – Collections & Links (Australia)
http://www.lexscripta.com/legal/history/links.html

London's Past Online
http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/lpol/
A bibliography of London history, created by the Centre for Metropolitan History in association with the Royal Historical Society. “Produced by the Centre for Metropolitan History in association with the Royal Historical Society Bibliography, London's Past Online is a free online bibliography of published material relating to the history of the Greater London area." It can be "a starting point for all enquiries concerning London's development over the centuries or any conceivable aspect of London life…"

Malleus Maleficarum
http://www.wicasta.com/essays/malleus.html
Originally by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Witch Hammer, was first published in 1486. It served as a "guidebook for Inquisitors during the Inquisition, and was designed to aid them in the identification, prosecution, and dispatching of Witches." (Lovelace) This is an Unabridged online republication of the 1928 edition put online by Wicasta Lovelace. The Introduction to the 1948 edition is also included. The Translation, notes, and two introductions are by Montague Summers.  It includes A Bull of Innocent VIII. It includes a very nice bibliography of the editions of the Malleus.

Medieval Law
http://www.netserf.org/Law/
Gateway

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
http://www.ndltd.org/browse.en.html
A searchable and browsable collection of electronic theses and dissertations. Includes masters-level and doctoral level theses and dissertations from about 70 institutions, U.S. and international, from the 1990s.

New York History Net
http://www.nyhistory.com/
A central web site of other Internet web sites of interest and relevance to New York State history.

New York Public Digital Gallery
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm
NYPL Digital Gallery provides access to over 415,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more.

Nineteenth Century Texas Online-Gammel’s The Laws of Texas
http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas/about.htm

The Old Bailey Online (1674-1834)
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
This is a searchable online edition of The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, now complete! Contains 100,621 trials, from April 1674 to October 1834. It contains accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court, though currently it has a little over 45,000 cases. These are transcripts of the trials, including digital photos of the original pages. The transcripts are searchable by keyword, name, place, Crime, Verdict and Punishment, and can also be browsed by date. There are advanced searching pages, statistical searching, and associated records searching capabilities.

The Papers of John Jay
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/jay/

Plebeian Lives and the Making of Modern London 1690-1800 (not up yet) http://www.shef.ac.uk/hri/projects/projectpages/plebeianlives.html
This project is "a comprehensive electronic edition of primary sources on criminal justice and the provision of poor relief and medical care in eighteenth-century London." Its resources include a large and diverse collection of manuscript and printed materials from the London archives. There is no date as of yet when this project will be up and running.

The Proceedings of the Central Criminal Court 1834-1913(not up yet) http://www.shef.ac.uk/hri/projects/projectpages/centralcriminalcourt.html
This database will continue the Old Bailey Sessions Proceedings database from 1834 to 1913.  These are the Proceedings of the Central Criminal Court. This project will add more than 100,000 trials. This project will update the Proceedings of the Old Bailey website, allowing users to search all the records of England’s criminal courts between 1674 and 1913. It will be launched in 2008. 

Research Guides to Leal History (UK)
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp?j=1

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/salem/home.html
The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project consists of an electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records.

State Archives Online
Many state governments have started to place full-text documents online at their state web sites. Some only list available materials, and the researcher must contact the state archives for access. The Maryland State Archives and Virginia State Library are some of those archives that include full-text historical documents.  Check your state archives web sites for more details. Here are a few local sites:

Archives of Maryland Online

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/html/index.html
The ongoing Maryland State Archives publication series, Archives of Maryland Online, currently provides access to over 466,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government. Online access enables users to research such topics as Maryland's constitutions and constitutional conventions' proceedings, session laws, proceedings of the General Assembly, governors' papers, and military records.

The Library of Virginia, or the Virginia State Archives
http://www.lva.lib.va.us/
Located in Richmond, Virginia, the Library of Virginia "serves as the library agency of the state, the archival agency of the Commonwealth, and the reference library at the seat of government." The archival materials include state and Federal publications, county and city government records, state government records, while the library has holdings in personal and private papers, genealogical notes and charts; maps, rare books, broadsides, sheet music, posters, prints and engravings, postcards, paintings, sculpture and photographs. The Archives Research Services provides the access to the archival records. Until 2003, the Library of Virginia was actively digitizing a tremendous amount of important records, and making them available through the Internet. Today, many of these images are unavailable, due too budget cuts, and many projects for future digitization have stopped. Indexes, finding aids and descriptions of record groups are still available on their web site, and they have added a great database of finding aids called the Virginia Heritage, Guides to Manuscripts and Archival Collections in Virginia, at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/vhp/, a valuable guide to various Virginia institutions and their holdings.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Legislative Reference Bureau
Pennsylvania Session Laws Online
http://www.palrb.us/
"The Legislative Reference Bureau, an agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, has undertaken a long-term preservation and public access project to digitize the laws enacted for the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and published on a periodic basis from 1682 to the most recently completed session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, referred to for purposes of the project as 'session laws.'
The project plan provides for incremental availability of the session laws. The first collection, the Statutes at Large, has been completed. The 18 volumes in this collection contain public and private laws of the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the early nineteenth century. The second collection, the Smith's Laws, and the third collection, the Pamphlet Laws, are in varying stages of completion.
Session laws are displayed as originally enacted and do not reflect subsequent amendments, repeals or other modification. Text is in Portable Document Format, and a browser plug-in is required to view the documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free plug-in which may be downloaded from Adobe Systems Incorporated."

Pensylvannia Statutes at Large
http://www.palrb.us/stlarge/index.asp
These volumes contain public and private laws of the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through 1809. They hold the earliest provisions for liberty of conscience and other principles of a free society, setting forth significant archival documents and enactments, with references to original sources, prior provisions and review by British Crown and Parliament agencies.
An electronic-only version of Volume 1 of the Statutes at Large was certified for publication March 1, 2001 by the Legislative Reference Bureau. Volumes 2 through 18 were published between 1896 and 1915. Volumes 19 and 20, though authorized by statute, were not published.

Pennsylvania Smith's Laws
http://www.palrb.us/smithlaws/index.asp
These volumes contain certain public and private laws of the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted from 1700 through 1829. Repealed, expired or obsolete laws or parts of laws were not carried in Smith's Laws. The text of these repealed, expired or obsolete laws or parts of laws may be found in the Statutes at Large or Pamphlet Laws. Publication Volumes 1 through 4 were published in 1810. Volume 5 was published in 1812. Volumes 6 through 10 were published later.

Pennsylvania Pamphlet Laws
http://www.palrb.us/pamphletlaws/index.asp
These volumes contain public and private laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from December 5, 1801, to the present. During a session, enacted statutes of a general nature are printed individually in a format officially referred to as Slip Laws. At the end of the session, the Slip Laws are combined into a bound volume or volumes which are officially referred to as the Laws of Pennsylvania but are unofficially referred to as Pamphlet Laws. The Pamphlet Laws also contain appropriation laws, joint resolutions amending the constitution, vetoes, proclamations, tables of statutes affected, indexes and certain other documents. Publication One volume of the Pamphlet Laws is generally published for each annual session. In recent years, a second volume is normally published in even years because of greater legislative activity.

Slaves and the Courts (1740-1860)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/sthome.html
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 contains pamphlets and books, published between 1772 and 1889, containing an assortment of trials and cases, reports, arguments, and other works of historical importance. An ongoing project, it currently holds only 4 cases:

  • Boston Slave Riot, and Trial of Anthony Burns (Boston, 1854).
  • The Life, Trial, and Execution of Captain John Brown (New York, 1859).
  • Jonathan Walker, A Picture of Slavery, for Youth (Boston, 184-?).
  • Jonathan Walker, Trial and Imprisonment of Jonathan Walker (Boston, 1845).
  • Thomas H. Benton, Historical and Legal Examination of that Part of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott Case (New York, 1857).

Slave Code of the District of Columbia (1862)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/stpres02.html

Thomas
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdoxmainpg.html
US Congress on the Internet: click on Historical Documents for digitized versions of original historical documents and more.

Thomas Jefferson's Library
http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/130.html

Triangle Legal History Seminar - Legal History on the Web
http://www.law.duke.edu/legal_history/portal/
"This website is a production of the Triangle Legal History Seminar, a regional group of faculty and graduate students interested in legal history. The site provides an annotated overview of online legal history resources in English, from all historical periods and regions of the world. These resources will be of interest to students hoping to orient themselves to the field or to begin legal history research, to teachers who wish to create new legal history courses, and to academics who wish to apply for research funding, propose conference sessions, or find publishing outlets for their scholarship." There are important links to:

  • Other Web Gateways to Legal History
  • Library Research Guides
  • Primary Source Databases/Web Archives
  • Chronologies
  • Journals
  • Publishers with Legal History Lists
  • Blogs
  • Workshops, Seminars, and Working Groups
  • Scholarly Associations and Networks
  • Doctoral Programs in Legal History/Law and Society
  • Reading Lists
  • Syllabi
  • Fellowships
  • Grants
  • Prizes
  • Job Market for Legal History Positions

Tyburn Tree

http://www.evergreen.loyola.edu/%7Ecmitchell/
Tyburn Tree is designed to provide information on the Web about public execution in Early Modern England.  It too links to other useful sites. It links to other online sites devoted to the history of capital punishment in England, such as:
http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/contents.html

Women's Legal History Biography Project

http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/wlhbp/

Robert Crown Library at Stanford University Law School have this website as a resource for all who are interested in the subject of women lawyers in the United States. Using biography as the main tool, the project is a study of the lives of the individual women lawyers, and the movements and philosophies that inspired and sustained them. The web site includes:

The Women Lawyers Index. a list of all the women lawyers in this collection so far.

Biography of Clara Shortridge Foltz, the first woman lawyer in California.

Research Resources, a guide to other websites, articles and books that provide comprehensive information on women lawyers.

IV. CD-ROM Databases - Available in Special Collections, Williams Library

English Reports
SPECL
KD270 1220 .E64 Electronic
The English Reports [electronic resource]. 2 CD-ROMs. Oxford: Juta Hart, 1998.
Currently only available for use in Special Collections. Decisions of all English cases from 1220 to 1865 of the English Courts prior to the commencement of the official Law Reports in 1866.
Also available electronically through:

State Trials
SPECL
KB61.G7 S79 Electronic
The State Trials 1163-1858 [electronic resource]. 1 CD-ROM. Lansdowne, South Africa: Jutastat, [2000].
Only available for use in Special Collections. The State Trials consist of the text of the majority of the most celebrated trials in Great Britain during the period 1163-1858. The main focus is on offences against the state, but content also includes notorious trials for witchcraft, bigamy, murder, and peerage claims. It incorporates Howell's (including Cobbett's) and Macdonell's New Series.

Also available in microfiche and in original format, in Special Collections. Check with Special Collections Librarian for assistance.
 
Parliamentary Rolls
SPECL & INTL
The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504. 17 vols. 1 CD-ROM. London: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., c2005.
These volumes are available in reprint format in Wolff International Library as well as on CD-ROM in Special Collections in Williams. Check with the Special Collections Librarian.

V. CD-ROM Databases Available through Lauinger Library

The Lauinger CD-ROM Network is now available off-campus, and at Williams and Wolff Libraries. To use any of the databases listed here, you must use your University NetID and password. Check with the Law Center' IST department for help getting your NetId.

Index to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/service/cdnet/app.cfm?appname=IndexToTheHouseOfCommonsParlPaper
Cumulative index to all House of Commons Parliamentary Papers published from 1801-1995. these are citations only. Available via the Medical Library, this is a CD-ROM that can be accessed through the CD-ROM Network. Use University NetId/password.

Niles' Register: Cumulative Index 1811-1849
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/service/cdnet/app.cfm?appname=NilesRegister
Citations only. Indexes articles that appeared in the Niles publications: The Weekly Register, Niles' Weekly Register, and Niles' National Register. Published in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia, with national readership, the Register was an influential, widely-read publication of its day. Articles covered political, commercial, agricultural, and industrial news not only in the U.S. but also from around the world and strived to be unbiased. Citations are to the volume and page of the Register which is on microfilm in the Government Documents and Microforms Department of Lauinger Library. Use University NetId/password.

Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC) 1801-1870
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/service/cdnet/app.cfm?appname=NineteenthCenturyStc-1801-1870
A union catalog of books in English printed between 1801 and 1870. The NSTC Project "aims to provide increasingly complete listings of British books," which include "all books published in Britain, its colonies and the United States; all books in English wherever published; and all translations from English." The database was prepared from the catalogs of the following British and US libraries: Bodleian Library, British Library, Cambridge University Library, Trinity College (Dublin), National Library of Scotland, University of Newcastle Library, Harvard University Library, Library of Congress. Use University NetId/password.

Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC) 1870-1919
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/service/cdnet/app.cfm?appname=NineteenthCenturyStc-1871-1919
A union catalog of books in English printed between 1870 and 1919. The NSTC Project "aims to provide increasingly complete listings of British books," which include "all books published in Britain, its colonies and the United States; all books in English wherever published; and all translations from English." The database was prepared from the catalogs of the following British and US libraries: Bodleian Library, British Library, Cambridge University Library, Trinity College (Dublin), National Library of Scotland, University of Newcastle Library, Harvard University Library, Library of Congress. Use University NetId/password.

Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals on CD-ROM 1824-1900
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/service/cdnet/app.cfm?appname=WellesleyIndToVictorianPer
An index to 45 of the most important periodicals published from 1824 to 1900. An index to Victorian-era periodicals, the Wellesley Index provides a record of nineteenth-century thought and opinion in literature, religion, politics, social science, economics, archaeology, science, and the arts. It is also a major source for research on Victorian women writers. The Wellesley Index is considered an essential research tool for Victorian-era studies because the periodicals indexed were a major forum for debate in the period; because many of the periodicals were the vehicles for the first publication of major literary works (e.g., Dickens' Oliver Twist); and because most of the periodicals are not indexed anywhere else. Use University NetId/password.

VI. Further Questions

f you have questions about finding or using any of these and other databases, or you need more in-depth assistance in your research, please ask at the Special Collections & Archives Department located at the west end of the Reading Room in Williams Law Library. The Special Collections Librarian will be able to assist you in identifying and locating the materials you need for your research projects.

Laura A. Bédard
Head of Special Collections
Special Collections & Archives
Georgetown University Law Library
bedard@law.georgetown.edu
202-662-9172

January 2008

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