A newly created collection of the materials of J. Willard Hurst, the University of Wisconsin Law School professor who has been called the “father of modern American legal history,” has been digitized and made available by the UW Law Library at http://library.law.wisc.edu/hurst/. 

The  J. Willard Hurst Collection spans the years 1932 through Hurst’s death in 1997, although the bulk of material dates between 1946 and 1980, when Hurst was a professor at the Law School. The documents provide insight into the evolution of Hurst’s view of legal history and his role in developing a community for legal historians.

Included in the collection are Hurst’s personal outlines and notes; course texts; publications; publication reviews; research notes; correspondence (incoming and outgoing letters); personnel records; photographs; audio recordings; and typewriter. Correspondence, topical outlines and notes, and audio recordings compose a bulk of the collection.

In anticipation of high research demand, the majority of materials in the collection have been digitized and are freely available on the Law Library website.  Researchers may browse the collection by series or search the detailed finding aid.  The complete finding aid is viewable in PDF form at http://library.law.wisc.edu/hurst/findingaid.pdf. 

The complete collection, including those materials which have not been digitized, is available in the Law Library.  For more information, contact the Law Library’s Head of Reference, Bonnie Shucha, at bjshucha@wisc.edu or (608) 265-5513.  

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