Yale University Library Research Guides: Manuscripts and Archives (Repository) Guide to Collections on Law: Lawyers

Partial Collections List: Lawyers

MSSA's collection includes a wealth of lawyers' personal and professional papers. Researchers interested in the history of the legal profession or other aspects of legal practice may find the sample collections below of interest. Most of MSSA's holdings in this area are from the 19th and 20th centuries and include papers from a wide range of legal practice areas and law-related activities. The attorneys represented in the collection include Connecticut attorneys, prominent members of other states' bars, and attorneys of national renown. Some of these lawyers also pursued academic and judicial careers that are documented within their papers.

If the attorney that you are interested in does not appear on this list, try:

Abbot, Edwin Hale (Edwin Hale Abbot family papers)
The papers contain correspondence, letterpress copybooks, legal and financial documents, diaries, maps, blueprints, and photographs, the bulk of which documents the personal life and law and business careers of Edwin Hale Abbot, a 19th century railroad company attorney and executive.
Atkins, Jasper Alston (Jasper Alston Atkins papers)
Jasper Alston Atkins graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1919 and from the Yale Law School in 1922. The papers consist of legal documents, writings, clippings, correspondence, and photographs that document his career. The papers emphasize his civil rights court cases.
Babb, James E. (James E. Babb Memorial collection)
A double collection of the papers of James Elisha Babb, a lawyer prominent in Idaho politics, and of his father-in-law, Charles Johnson Tinkham. Babb's correspondence, which was devoted largely to politics, included both local and nationally prominent figures. Among the most important were William E. Borah (correspondence between 1898 and 1933) and William Jennings Bryan (correspondence between 1880 and 1924).
Bingham, Alfred Mitchell (Alfred Mitchell Bingham and the Common Sense collection)
Alfred Bingham was born in 1905; he graduated from Yale College in 1927 and the Yale Law School in 1930. These papers consist of correspondence, writings, printed material, and other papers of Alfred Bingham, a social reformer, writer, founder and editor of Common Sense, lawyer, and politician.
Boardman, Elijah (Boardman family papers)
Correspondence, diaries, account books, daybooks, legal papers, deeds, and land books of the Boardman family of New Haven, New Milford, and Ohio. The family also had extensive real estate holdings in Connecticut and the Western Reserve. The papers document family activities and relationships, extensive land holdings in Ohio, business interests in land and manufacturing operations, the legal careers of William Whiting and William Jarvis Boardman, and the career of U.S. Senator Elijah Boardman
Butterworth, Benjamin (Benjamin Butterworth papers)
Benjamin Butterworth was an Ohio lawyer and politician. This collection contains scrapbooks of clippings and typed transcriptions of scrapbooks (1882-1898) concerning his career as a lawyer, member of Congress from Ohio (1878-1882, 1886-1890) and commissioner of patents (1883-1885, 1897-1898).
Chase, Champion Spalding (Champion Spalding Chase papers)
Correspondence and other papers of Champion Spalding Chase, Civil War veteran, lawyer, and politician. The papers are comprised primarily of personal correspondence between Chase and members of his family, although there is some material concerning his Civil War experiences and to his work with the Whig and Republican Parties.
Cooper, Peter B. (Peter B. Cooper papers)
The papers consist of correspondence, notes, and background material which document Peter Cooper's legal work to preserve the quality of the environment in the New Haven area and along Long Island Sound. Cases involve issues of energy transmission, coastal area development, highway construction, pollution of public water supplies, air quality control, and nuclear power plant construction.
Crawford, Thomas Hartley (Thomas Hartley Crawford papers)
Thomas Hartley Crawford, a lawyer from Pennsylvania, served as representative to Congress from 1829 to 1833. He then served as a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and as judge of the criminal court in the District of Columbia. The most important part of the Thomas Hartley Crawford Papers relate to Crawford's work on a presidential commission investigating land fraud in connection with the 1832 treaty with the Creek Indians.
Daggett, David (David Daggett papers)
A former U.S. Senator from Connecticut, David Daggett was appointed an associate instructor at the Yale Law School in 1824 and was Kent Professor of Law from 1826 until 1848. These papers relate primarily to Daggett's legal and political activities and to Federalist Party politics.
Davis, John William (John William Davis papers)
John Davis was elected to Congress from West Virginia in 1910 and 1912, and served as solicitor general of the United States (1913-1918) and as ambassador to Great Britain (1918-1921). He was also the Democratic candidate for president in 1924. These papers consist of correspondence, speeches and writings, diaries, photographs, extensive material from the presidential campaign of 1924, and material relating to his law practice and public activities.
Ellsworth, Henry Leavitt (Henry Leavitt Ellsworth papers)
Henry Leavitt Ellsworth graduated from Yale in 1810. He studied law at Litchfield Law School and in 1832 was appointed Commissioner of Indian tribes in Arkansas and Oklahoma. In 1835, he was appointed U.S. Commissioner of Patents, remaining until 1845. The papers consist of several letters and two journals of Henry Ellsworth's travels to New Connecticut (1811) and to the West (1832) after his appointment as Commissioner to the Indians.
Fortas, Abe (Abe Fortas Papers)
These papers consist of Supreme Court materials, correspondence, writings, and photographs that document the various aspects of Abe Fortas’s career as a law school professor, government official, lawyer in private practice, presidential advisor, patron and practitioner of the arts, public figure, and Supreme Court Justice.
Harper, Fowler V. (Fowler Vincent Harper papers)
Fowler V. Harper joined the faculty of the Yale Law School in 1947 and was named Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law in 1957. His association with Yale continued until his death in 1965. The Fowler V. Harper Papers consist of materials related to several legal cases in which Harper was involved as a party or attorney. The cases all concern controversies provoked through the widespread government prosecution and public condemnation of alleged Communists during the "McCarthy Era."
Liman, Arthur L. (Arthur L. Liman papers)
These papers consist of correspondence, diaries, legal documents, speeches, writings, printed material, photographs, and audiovisual materials that document the career of Arthur Liman, a prominent lawyer of his time. The papers emphasize the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings but also document many of Liman's other professional activities, including the Attica Prison uprising investigation and the Michael Milken trial.
May, Henry John (Henry John May papers)
Henry John May began the practice of law in Johannesburg in 1925 and was considered an authority on native law and customs. He wrote and lectured on apartheid, constitutional law, and South African history. These papers consist of an unpublished autobiography. The memoir describes May's personal life as well as his professional career.
Nagel, Charles (Charles Nagel papers)
These papers include correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, writings, topical files, photographs, and clippings which document the career of Charles Nagel. The papers highlight Nagel's legal practice and detail his role as counsel to Adolphus Busch and the Anheuser-Busch breweries. They also document some aspects of his service as Secretary of Commerce and Labor in William Howard Taft's cabinet (1909-1913).
Pierrepont, Edwards (Edwards Pierrepont papers)
These papers consist of correspondence, legal and financial documents, printed matter, and other papers of Edwards Pierrepont, attorney, judge, Attorney General of the United States, and minister to Great Britain. Some of the correspondence relates to such questions as Reconstruction, bimetallism, the "whiskey ring" controversy, the Hayes-Tilden election, and the Republican Party.
Thacher, Thomas D. (Thomas Day Thacher papers)
This collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, legal documents, reports, minutes of meetings, speeches, printed matter and memorabilia of Thomas Day Thacher, judge and political figure in New York City. The papers include significant material relating to his activities as Solicitor General of the United States (1930-1933), as a participant in the New York City Charter revision of 1936, and legal papers from his period on the New York Court of Appeals (1943-1948).
Weinberger, Harry (Harry Weinberger Papers)
These papers consist of legal papers, notes, and other materials from 116 cases handled by Harry Weinberger, a prominent civil liberties and copyright lawyer of the early 20th century. Weinberger's clients included Alexander Berkman, Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, Emma Goldman, and Eugene O'Neill. The papers also include his short stories and plays.

Manuscripts and Archives (Repository) Guide to Collections on Law: Lawyers

Partial Collections List: Lawyers

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