Biddleblog

For a student of public policy and the law, Thanksgiving is one of our most fascinating holidays.  Originally intended, literally, to "give thanks" to God, Thanksgiving has evolved into a secular holiday, established by the government to be celebrated by all citizens, regardless of religious affiliation.

It's interesting to be reminded, however, of the complex relationship our civil code has with religious doctrine throughout the history of our country.  One of the most potent examples of this intersection between public and religious life is the Thanksgiving Day Sermon.  Delivered on Thanksgiving Day in many Congregationalist churches in the 19th Century, the Thanksgiving Day Sermon gave a local preacher the opportunity to use Thanksgiving to comment on the perceived importance--if not the centrality--of religion in American life.

I came across one such sermon in Biddle's collection of bound pamphlets.  Delivered on Thanksgiving Day, 1853, "The Duty and Limitations of Civil Obedience" was delivered by Reverend Samuel C. Bartlett at the Franklin Street Church in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Early on, Bartlett makes the intent of his sermon plain: "...I am to show that Civil Government, or the State, is a divine institution, clothed with divine authority.  It is the 'ordinance of God.'"  This pamphlet serves as an interesting cultural artifact that reflects what was a popular theme of the era: the use of Thanksgiving to give thanks not just to one's Maker, but also to one's Country.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Biddle Law Library!

 

Happy 2009!

To ring in the new semester and the new year, the Biddle Law Library has a couple of new exhibits in our reference area and the Rare Book seminar room.

Violet Oakley's Law Triumphant

In our main exhibit case is displayed selected plates from Violet Oakley's Law Triumphant.  A native Philadelphian, Oakley studied painting at the Drexel Institute for Women (now Drexel College).  She was heavily influenced by the symbolism and optimism of the Pre-Raphelite era. 

Oakley became famous for a series of 43 murals painted in 1905 in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg.  Each mural depicted some of the major figures in the development of the law, from Moses to Blackstone to William Penn.  Oakley is arguably the finest woman muralist, and her murals for the State Capital remain her signature commission. 

In the 1930s, Oakley published Law Triumphant, which included color plates of her murals.  A limited edition, only 300 copies of Law Triumphant were published.  The Biddle Law Library is fortunate enough to own two copies, and they are on display now.

Le Petit Journal Covers the Dreyfus Affair

The remainder of our exhibit space has been devoted to images from The Dreyfus Affair, a political scandal that rocked Paris in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries.  Regarded as the major political and cultural event of the era, the Dreyfus Affair also touched on a range of legal issues, including the separation of church and state, libel and religious freedom.

Our exhibition presents the Dreyfus Affair through the lens of one particular contemporary perspective: the pages of Le Petit Journal. This newspaper was in popular circulation in Paris during the Dreyfus Affair, taking advantage of innovations in color printing to publish colorful, full-page illustrations.  Le Petit Journal was very much part of the media frenzy surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, publishing daily articles and illustrations depicting some of the main characters of the saga, including Emile Zola, Paul Deschanel, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, and Alfred Dreyfus himself. 

The exhibition begins in the reference area and continues in the Rare Book Seminar room.  We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the Biddle Law Library's impressive Special Collections, and we look forward to bringing you more in 2009.

 

 

The Biddle Law Library has many interesting older books related to Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day 200 years ago.

 

One I came across in our Rare Books Collection.  Entitled Lincolniana: In Memoriam, this book is an anthology of speeches given right after the tragic assassination of our 16th President.  Although its 1865 publication date would normally not make it a candidate to be housed in our climate-controlled rare books vault--the cutoff is usually 1850--there were only 250 copies of this book published.  The deckled edges of Lincolniana's pages are reminiscent of printing practices that were common in the 1800s.  I particularly enjoyed the reference in the Preface note to the recently slain "Martyr-President," which suggests how devastating Lincoln's assassination was for some Americans.

  

 

As most of us know, before Lincoln became a politician, he was a lawyer.  The skills of oration he honed in the courtroom were put to good use as he embarked on a political career.  Lincoln first captured the nation's attention in his debates over slavery with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858.  Just two years later, these debates were published, bringing even greater notoriety to Lincoln.

 

The above book is in our Lewis collection, which comprises many of our older books that are still available for public circulation.  Dispite the damange suffered by some of the pages, it remains a very readable, and compelling, book.  I expecially admire the title page's letter-spacing, which was a common typographical convention in the 19th century. 

In addition to the debates, the volume even includes a compilation of correspondence between Lincoln and Douglas that the two exchanged prior to their famous debates.  The book remains an interesting record of Lincoln, foreshadowing the greatness that was to come.

Of course, we aren't the only ones celebrating Lincoln's birthday by showcasing some special collections about him.  The Library of Congress has unveiled an impressive collection of images through the photograph-sharing site Flickr, bringing the iconic countenance of Lincoln into the digital age.

If you are interested in browsing either of the above books, please contact me.

I recently helped a student use an item in our Rare Books Collection to verify a citation that a professor had recorded for a forthcoming law review article.  One of the references she wanted to check was the original publication date of the volume.  When we looked on the back side of the title page, we discovered the following statement:

(You can click on the image to make it larger.)

Needless to say, my researcher was a little confused--this lengthy narrative looks almost nothing like the modern convention for declaring copyright: that ubiquitous symbol, ©.

It may be hard to believe, but the copyright symbol was not formally adopted until 1979, when copyright laws were overhauled.  Before then, owners of works had to petition the Copyright Office to copyright their works. 

 What looks to modern eyes like an arcane, roundabout way of stating something very simple was actually a necessary explanation that the author of a work had been granted copyright by the Copyright Office. 

An old professor of mine in college once quipped that Charles Darwin was a great thinker but "he needed an editor."  19th Century prose has often been described as florid and verbose.  Copyright notices of that era are no exception, suggesting that even something this routine could take on a dramatic flair.