The University of Wisconsin Law Library is pleased to announce that the J. Willard Hurst Collection is once again available through the UW Law School Digital Repository. The collection was temporarily offline while we enhanced the metadata to improve search capabilities, providing researchers with better access to the papers and materials of the scholar generally recognized as the father of modern American legal history.
A Wisconsin Legacy
J. Willard Hurst joined the UW Law School faculty in 1937, bringing impressive credentials that included research work with Felix Frankfurter at Harvard and a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis. Despite numerous opportunities elsewhere, Hurst chose to remain at the University of Wisconsin for his entire 44-year career. In a 1990 interview with The New York Times, Hurst explained that he turned down a chair at Harvard and the deanship of Yale Law School because “I was having too good a time in Wisconsin.”
Through his scholarship and teaching, Hurst developed the discipline of American legal economic history and mentored numerous young scholars who went on to distinguished careers in law and history. His legacy continues today through the J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History, a biennial event held in Madison that brings together early career scholars from around the world.
What’s in the Collection
The digitized Hurst Collection spans primarily from 1932 through Hurst’s death in 1997, with the bulk of materials dating from his most productive period between 1946 and 1980. The collection is organized into eleven series:
- Series I: Topical Outlines and Notes
- Series II: Course Texts
- Series III: Course & Speech Audio Recordings
- Series IV: Publications by Hurst
- Series V: Publication Reviews & Correspondence
- Series VI: Research Notes
- Series VII: Correspondence
- Series VIII: Works about Hurst
- Series IX: Personnel & Administrative Records
- Series X: Photographs
- Series XI: Artifacts
The heart of the collection lies in Hurst’s correspondence, topical outlines and notes, and audio recordings. His correspondence includes letters with well-known figures such as Felix Frankfurter and Louis D. Brandeis, providing insight into both the evolution of his thinking about legal history and his role in building a community of legal scholars.
Research Features
This digital collection allows researchers to search the collection by title, person, organization, or year. Additionally, links to related materials in other UW Law School Digital Repository collections provide context for understanding Hurst’s contributions both at the University of Wisconsin and in the broader world of legal history.
This functionality makes the collection particularly valuable for researchers interested in tracing the development of legal historical methodology, understanding the institutional history of legal education at Wisconsin, or studying the networks of scholars who shaped American legal history in the mid-20th century.
For legal historians, Wisconsin legal scholars, and anyone interested in the evolution of American legal thought, the J. Willard Hurst Collection represents an invaluable resource for understanding Hurst’s multifaceted contributions as scholar, teacher, and mentor, and his lasting influence on the field of legal history.