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

Partial Collections List: Yale Faculty

MSSA's holdings include the personal and professional papers of some of Yale's most prominent legal scholars. This material varies widely in scope and substance, but as a whole covers the wide range of legal thought and practice that Yale faculty helped to develop during the 19th and 20th centuries. (Please note that most of the papers are from the 20th century.)

In addition to material that documents faculty members' teaching and scholarship, these collections also contain information about these law professors' professional activities, including government service and legal practice. Some collections also include documentation of these scholars' involvement in notable legal cases.

The partial list below provides a good sample of the type of material available within this area. If the scholar that you are interested in does not appear on this list, try:

Adams, Thomas Sewell (Thomas Sewall Adams papers)
The Thomas Sewell Adams collection consists of letters and papers from the library of Professor Thomas Sewell Adams (1873-1933), economist, tax expert, and professor at Yale. The collection contains no personal correspondence and is comprised almost entirely of taxation material.
Baldwin, Simeon Eben (Baldwin family papers)
These papers detail the personal lives and professional careers of several generations and family lines of the Baldwin family of Connecticut. They include a wealth of personal and professional papers of Simeon Eben Baldwin, Professor of Constitutional and Mercantile Law, Corporations and Wills at Yale from 1869 to 1919.
Bickel, Alexander M. (Alexander Mordecai Bickel papers)
Alexander M. Bickel was a professor at the Yale Law School from 1956 until his death in 1974. He published nine books and more than one hundred articles on law, government, political reform, the Supreme Court, and legal history. The Bickel papers include correspondence; writings, both published and unpublished; memoranda on legislation and government policy; papers from his legal practice; papers relating to his teaching at the Yale Law School; and personal papers and photographs.
Bittker, Boris (Boris I. Bittker papers)
Boris Irving Bittker was a prolific author and renowned expert in taxation, and served as a professor at Yale Law School from 1946 to 2005. The papers consist of correspondence, legal pleadings, memoranda, clippings, reports, subject files, and writings that document his teaching and scholarly career. In addition to materials relating to taxation, the papers also include correspondence and subject files relating to Bittker's book, The Case for Black Reparations (1973).
Borchard, Edwin M. (Edwin Montefiore Borchard papers)
The papers consist of correspondence, research notes, memoranda, writings, speeches, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia of Edwin Borchard, Professor of Law at Yale University from 1917 to 1950, specialist in international law, adviser to government and business, and controversial advocate of American neutrality in both world wars. The correspondence reflects both his political and legal interests.
Burt, Robert A. (Robert A. Burt papers)
Robert "Bo" Burt joined the faculty of Yale Law School in 1976 after teaching at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. Burt's primary area of study was bioethics and the law, as well as the relationship between the Bible and the law. The papers span the years of 1974-2015 and contain professional correspondence and class materials from Burt’s tenure as Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Clark, Charles E. (Charles Edward Clark papers)
Charles E. Clark was appointed to the Yale Law School faculty in 1919 and served as Dean between 1929 and 1939. He was appointed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1939 and was a judge on that court until his death in 1963. The bulk of these papers cover the period 1935-1963 and reflect Clark's position as a judge and as the reporter on the United States Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Rules for Civil Procedure (1935-1956).
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.
Dworkin, Ronald (Ronald Dworkin papers)
Ronald Dworkin was a legal philosopher, professor, and writer. He taught at Yale Law School from 1962 through 1969, when he moved to Oxford University, where he served as chair of jurisprudence. He also taught for many years at New York University. Dworkin published widely in legal journals and the popular press, including several books and frequent articles in the New York Review of Books. The papers consist of paper and digital correspondence, writings, course materials, and other materials documenting Dworkin’s life and career.
Ely, John Hart (John Hart Ely papers)
John Hart Ely taught at Yale Law School from 1968-1973, and later held posts at Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and the University of Miami School of Law. The papers consist of teaching files, research papers, writings, correspondence, and video tapes documenting Ely's legal and teaching career. The bulk of the collection contains notes and research materials pertaining to Ely's writings on constitutional law from 1968 to 2003.
Emerson, Thomas Irwin (Thomas Irwin Emerson papers)
These papers consist of correspondence, writings, course material, legal documents, and printed material that document Thomas Emerson's career as a lawyer and law professor. They emphasize Emerson's teaching, writing, and organizational activities during his career at the Yale Law School from 1946 to 1976.
Frank, Jerome N. (Jerome New Frank papers)
Jerome N. Frank was a distinguished judge, lawyer, author, and government official. From 1946 to 1956 he was visiting lecturer at the Yale Law School. These papers consist of correspondence, legal material (including opinions, decisions, calendars, memoranda, and other papers), writings, speeches, Yale course materials, and family and personal papers.
Freedman, Lawrence (Lawrence Z. Freedman papers)
The collection comprises the papers of forensic psychiatrist and former Yale professor, Lawrence Z. Freedman. The papers document Freedman's significant contributions to the field of forensic psychiatry, as well as his studies of aggression, violence, crime, terrorism, and the interactions between psychiatry and the law, including his work on drafting the Model Penal Code.
Goldstein, Joseph (Joseph Goldstein papers)
Joseph Goldstein taught at Yale Law School from 1956 to 2000 and authored or co-authored books in the areas of criminal law, constitutional law, and the intersection of law, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. These papers consist of correspondence, topical files, writings, speeches, and course materials that document his career from 1965 to 1999.
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."
Hazard, Geoffrey C. (Geoffrey Cornell Hazard papers)
Geoffrey C. Hazard was first appointed Professor of Law in 1971, a title he held until 1994 when he left the Yale Law School as Sterling Professor Emeritus. He also served as Associate Dean (1979-1980), Acting Dean (1989-1981), and Deputy Dean (1981-1982) of the Yale School of Management. Papers contain correspondence, notes, drafts, and clippings of cases from court reporters, all relating to Hazard's work as principal writer of Restatement of the Law: Second Judgments.
Hitchcock, Samuel J. (Samuel Johnson Hitchcock papers)
Samuel Johnson Hitchcock received his A.B. from Yale College in 1809. After graduation, he taught for two years at Fairfield Academy and then studied law with Seth P. Staples, whose law school was incorporated into the Yale Law School in 1824. Hitchcock's association with the Law School continued until his death in 1845. These papers contain correspondence, legal and financial papers, and personal memorabilia. Some material contains information about the development of the Yale Law School.
Lasswell, Harold (Harold Dwight Lasswell papers)
The papers consist of correspondence, writings, research material, and personal memorabilia which document Harold Dwight Lasswell's boyhood and his career from 1939 to 1978, primarily as Director of War Communications Research at the Library of Congress and as Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. The papers also reflect Lasswell's diverse research interests in content analysis, communications, psychology, values, policy sciences, and other fields.
Lipson, Leon (Leon Lipson papers)
Leon Lipson taught at Yale Law School from 1956 through 1992, specializing in the study of Soviet law and space law. The papers consist of research notes, primarily on Soviet law but also including contract, business and international law; two articles written by Lipson; and notes and correspondence relating to the case of Craig Whitney and Hal Piper, two American reporters working in the Soviet Union in the 1970s who were convicted of libeling Soviet television.
McDougal, Myres (Myres Smith McDougal papers)
Myres McDougal, an influential international law scholar of his time, taught at the Yale Law School for fifty years. The papers consist of correspondence, subject files, audio cassettes, and videotapes of conversations between him and colleagues.
Moore, William Underhill (Underhill Moore papers)
After a short time in private practice, Moore taught at several law schools before joining the faculty at Columbia Law School in 1916. In 1929, he accepted an appointment as Sterling Professor of Law at Yale University and remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1946.The papers consist of correspondence, course materials, diaries, legal documents, printed material, reports, subject files, and writings that document Moore's career as a law professor and his personal life.
Pollak, Louis (Louis H. Pollak papers)
The collection comprises the papers of attorney, legal scholar, and United States Circuit Court judge, Louis H. Pollak. The papers consist of correspondence and subject files documenting myriad aspects of his life and career, including his tenure at Yale Law School, where he joined the faculty in 1955 and served as dean from 1965-1970.
Rostow, Eugene (Eugene V. Rostow papers)
Eugene V. Rostow was a professor, author, and public official who was a faculty member at Yale Law School for many decades, including as dean from 1955 to 1965. In government, he served in various roles in the Lend-Lease Administration and the U.S. State Department, including as Under Secretary for Political Affairs in the Lyndon Johnson administration. The papers consist of correspondence, subject files, writings, printed material, newspaper clippings, photographs, and memorabilia documenting Rostow’s professional and personal life.
Shulman, Harry (Harry Shulman papers)
After serving as a law clerk to Justice Louis Brandeis, Harry Shulman embarked on an academic career at the Yale Law School in 1930, and he was appointed Dean in 1954. These papers include documents concerning Shulman's work as an arbitrator in labor-management disputes, his legal practice and academic work, and his professional correspondence.
Taft, William H. (William Howard Taft papers)
Between his tenure as President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William H. Taft was Chancellor Kent Professor of Law at Yale Law School. These papers are a miscellaneous collection of items by William Howard Taft. The material includes two volumes of case study notes, outlines and texts of lectures on constitutional law and government, and other matters pertaining to the Yale Law School.
Tilson, John Q. (John Quillin Tilson papers)
A former Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives and a United States Congressman, John Q. Tilson lectured on parliamentary law at the Yale Law School from 1930 until his death. These papers include correspondence, speeches, travel diaries, and documents relating to Tilson's public life. Papers from his parliamentary law course are also in the collection.
Townsend, William K. (Townshend family papers)
William K. Townsend was elected Professor of Pleading in the Yale Law School in 1881 and assumed the Edward J. Phelps Professorship of Contracts and Commercial Law in 1887. His thorough knowledge of the law and ready command of its resources, and his consideration of the students' standpoint made him a favorite in the classroom. These papers include correspondence, legal papers, financial papers, and business records of the Townsend and Atwater families of New Haven, Connecticut.
Wheeler, Stanton (Stanton Wheeler papers)
Stanton Wheeler was a sociologist and Yale Law School professor from 1968 to 2002. The collection includes teaching files from his courses at Yale; correspondence; draft writings; and files pertaining to his research interests, which included white collar crime, prison systems, juvenile delinquency, the sociology of law, sports law, and music law.
Woolsey, Theodore Dwight and Woolsey, Theodore Salisbury (Woolsey family papers)
The papers document three generations of the Woolsey family. The most prominent figures in the collection are William Walton Woolsey (1766-1839), land owner and merchant in New York City; his son, Theodore Dwight Woolsey (1801-1889), Greek scholar, political theorist and president of Yale College; and Theodore Salisbury Woolsey (1852-1929), Professor of International Law at the Yale Law School and son of Theodore Dwight Woolsey.

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

Partial Collections List: Yale Faculty

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