Harvard Law School Graduates: A Biographical Research Guide
The Harvard Law School Library Special Collections Department has compiled the following list of biographical sources, which offer basic information regarding Harvard Law School graduates. An increasing number of these sources are available digitally and can be accessed via links in this guide. If you require further assistance, please plan on visiting Special Collections.
For a printable PDF version of this page click here.
| Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates, 1636-1930/Harvard University | This catalog, published in 1930, includes information on the founding of Harvard College and lists officers of government for the University, as well as faculty with their dates of service. Student information includes degree(s) and date(s) conferred and date of death. |
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Quinquennial catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, 1894-1953 |
This is the precursor to the Harvard Law School Alumni Directory. It lists Law School faculty, as well as students. Student information is divided into three sections: chronological, geographical, and alphabetical. It usually includes the following:
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| Harvard Law School Alumni Directory, 1958 – present
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The Alumni directory lists faculty dates of service, as well as professional staff up to 2006. Student information is divided into chronological, geographical, and alphabetical sections. It includes the following:
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| Class Reports, 1883-present (irregular)
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Starting in the 1880s, the secretary of each graduating class published a report listing the class members and their places of employment. Over time, these reports have come to include brief biographical entries for some alumni and alumnae. Earlier class reports may also include club membership. The present (2001) policy of the Harvard Law School Alumni Office is to sponsor publication of a class report every five years, up to and including the fiftieth anniversary of graduation. |
A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University in Cambridge, 1819-1871/72 |
Before the Law School had its own course catalog, the Law School curriculum was included in the University catalog. In addition to information on faculty, tuition, and courses, these catalogs also included the following:
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Harvard Law School Catalogs: |
First published in 1893 and annually since 1896. Includes information on:
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History of the Harvard Law School and of Early Legal Conditions in America (Note: An online version of this three volume publication may be accessed through Google Books, as well as the e-resource, The Making of Modern Law. You must have a Harvard pin if you are accessing it from outside of the library.) |
This three-volume work includes a detailed history of the Harvard Law School from the school's founding in 1817 until 1907. Of particular interest is the third volume, which contains the Harvard Law School alumni roll, a listing of biographical data by class year. This volume also includes reproductions of various Harvard Law School Class photographs. The following types of information may be included:
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Yearbooks: |
Yearbooks include listings and photographs of faculty, students, and student organizations. Earlier yearbooks include undergraduate information as well as current and permanent addresses. No yearbooks were published from 1942/43 through 1944/45. However, the 1945/1946 yearbook includes a listing (without photos) of graduates since the previous publication in 1941/1942. |
| HOLLIS | The HOLLIS Catalog of the Harvard University Libraries is a database containing over 9 million records for more than 15 million books, journals, manuscripts, government documents, maps, microforms, music scores, sound recordings, visual materials, and data files. Search for publications, including: class notes, third year papers, as well as LLM and SJD theses. |
| Harvard's Online Archival Search Information System provides centralized access to a growing percentage of finding aids for archival and manuscript collections at Harvard. These finding aids are detailed descriptions of collections that contain a wide variety of materials, including letters, diaries, photographs, drawings, printed material, and objects. | |
| VIA | This is Harvard's online union catalog of visual resources. An increasing number of images relating to the history of Harvard Law School are available. Examples include: class pictures, photographs of faculty members, alumni, and student organizations. |
| Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference Shelf | 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, contain not only 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:
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| Bench and Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by William T. Davis (Note: An online version of this publication may be accessed through Google Books.) | Published in 1895, these two volumes include a brief history of the Massachusetts bench and bar and an extensive illustrated biographical register of the men who became attorneys or judges in Suffolk County and much of Massachusetts through 1894. (Note: In 1894 Davis published Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts . Vol. 1. of this earlier work contains similar information to the Bench and Bar and is available on-line through Making of Modern Law.) |