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Law Library Lights Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. | Volume 55.3 Law Library Lights Helen Newman: GW’S Table of Contents Helen Newman: GW’s 1 Trailblazing Law Librarian Trailblazing Law Librarian Jennie C. Meade Jennie C. Meade Director of Special Collections, The George Washington University Editor’s Column 6 Jill A. Smith Law School, [email protected] Q&A, Rick McKinney 7 If Miss Helen Catherine Newman had dressed appropriately for the Recent Graduate Insights 8 role fate assigned her in law librarianship, she would have sported Janet Hager a coonskin cap, fringed buckskins and moosehide moccasins. Then she would have looked the part as well as played it while she Q&A, Abigail F.E. Ross 11 pioneered first as GW Law’s first professional librarian, and later as President’s Column 12 the first woman to serve as Librarian of the United States Supreme Roger V. Skalbeck Court. Along the way she became co-incorporator and president of the American Association of Law Libraries, and co-founder and Q&A, Kate Martin 13 president of the Law Librarians’ Society for the District of Columbia. Finding the Right Career 14 These are but a few of the ground-breaking achievements of Helen Path in Librarianship Newman (1904-1965), the canny dynamo whose intelligence, Emily Kasprak perseverance, and force of personality made her a leader among Q&A, Judy Gaskell 16 law librarians in the first half of the twentieth century. Book Review 17 About Helen Dawn Bohls When in 2010 the American Association of Law Libraries Q&A, Billie Jo Kaufman 20 announced the first inductees into its newly-established Hall of Fame, Helen Newman was recognized as one of sixteen “Pioneers,” Tech Talk 21 so designated “because of the critical roles they played in the Harvey Morrell 1 formation and early development of AALL.” Helen spent her entire Member Announcements 22 professional life at two libraries: George Washington Law, and the Library of the U.S. Supreme Court. This would be somewhat unusual Q&A, Leslie Lee 23 today, when law librarians tend to be more mobile, and often rove Sticking with Law 25 among a number of institutions during the course of their careers. Librarianship She was a native Washingtonian, a rare breed then as now, Scott Wales Law Library Lights | Spring 2012 1 and attended Western High School in Georgetown By the fall of 1925, when Helen was assistant, (now the Duke Ellington School of the Arts). With the Law School had moved into its new quarters, straight As, Helen was valedictorian of her class, Stockton Hall (which it still occupies), at 720 20th and thrived on competition in athletics as well as Street, NW. The Law Library occupied most of the in academe: she was captain of the girls’ basketball fourth (top) floor, sharing the space with several team, a crack ice skater, and fine swimmer. She also professors’ offices. At the time of the move to captained her debating team, setting the corner- stone for her later reputation as a persuasive orator Helen Newman, GW Law’s first whose “forceful and compelling speeches” proved professional librarian. invaluable in winning support for her agenda at AALL meetings.2 Helen was a natural leader. Helen at GW Law After Western, Helen went on to GW where she received her LL.B. with distinction in 1925, achieving membership in the Order of the Coif, and was awarded her LL.M. in 1927. During law school she worked as assistant librarian in the Law Library (then located on the second floor of 1435 K Street, N.W.), and also served as Secretary of the Law School. By 1927, Helen was Law Librarian at GW, where she stayed until 1941, going on to assume the Associate Librarian position at the Supreme Court. She became Librarian of the Court in 1947, where she remained until her death in 1965. By all accounts, Helen Newman was an effective and talented law librarian whose outstanding abil- ity was recognized in the early days of her career. GW (and later University of Michigan) antitrust professor S. Chesterfield (“Oppie”) Oppenheim, in his memorial “Helen in Academe,” speaks of Helen’s Special Collections and University Archives, The Gelman Library, The George Washington University creativity and “unremitting perseverance” in build- ing GW’s law collection with limited funds. Always Stockton Hall, the Library’s collection was stated mindful of stretching her budget, she traded cop- as “more than 10,000 volumes.” In 1929, Helen ies of law reviews with other institutions to obtain established a modern card catalog using Library of issues not held by the Law Library and targeted Congress cards, and began submitting annual government sources to acquire specialized materi- reports to the University Librarian in 1930-1931. als. The collection of law reviews she built was said The Faculty Library Committee was instituted to be the equal of any collection in the District of during Helen’s tenure. In 1928-1929, the Law Columbia. In a climate of limited resources, Helen’s Library held approximately 12,000 volumes, and ingenuity was her key to developing an excellent by 1936, 18,073 volumes, with an appropriation for working collection for students and faculty. books and periodicals of $2,601. Law Library Lights | Spring 2012 2 Helen: GW Law’s “First” Rare Books Librarian She made a mental connection to the Carroll note- Consistent with her broad intelligence and books. After she verified that Carroll and Cranch inquiring nature, Helen maintained a serious were the first “GW” law professors, Helen’s further ongoing interest in historical materials and in the research and close work with the notebooks en- history of the law school. It was due to Helen’s abled her to postulate with confidence that the keen eye and discernment that some of the most notebooks comprised notes taken by Carroll during important historical materials held by the Law his course of study at Litchfield, and that he used at Library today were discovered: the William Thomas least certain of them as lecture notes as professor Carroll notebooks. Decades before the University of law at Columbian College in 1826. purchased the Carnegie Endowment collection, which set the cornerstone for the Law Library’s “Baron and feme” (1823?-1825?), a leaf Grotius collection, and the 2002 acquisition of the from the notebooks of William Thomas Payrat library (the foundation of the French Carroll, Litchfield Law student and one Collection), Helen found and rescued from of GW Law’s first professors. obscurity the unique manuscript volumes of notes taken by William Thomas Carroll (1802-1863) as a student at the Litchfield Law School (1823-1825). Mr. Carroll, with William Cranch, was one of the first two professors of law at Columbian College (GW’s earliest incarnation) from 1826-1828. He later was Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, and served in this position until his death. Helen left extensive notes regarding her serendipitous find. She first had observed the notebooks in 1923 during her early days with the Law Library as an assistant. The Carroll note- books had resided on the open shelves in the Law Library, anonymous and uncatalogued, shelved Special Collections, The George Washington University Law Library with law texts under “C.” According to Helen, no one seemed to know what they were, or why they Two of these notebooks are written in shorthand. might be significant. Ten years later, in 1933, she Although examples of Litchfield notes in shorthand was in the process of researching for a paper on now are known to exist in other collections, they are extremely scarce; at the time Helen was “It was due to Helen’s keen eye and sleuthing, the Carroll shorthand notebooks at GW discernment that some of the most were thought to be unique. important historical materials held Rare books usually are obtained through pur- by the Law Library today chase, gift, or bequest. Helen’s strike illustrates were discovered…” the fourth method: recognizing the significance of heretofore-ignored pieces already in the library. William Cranch when she found a reference to She alone was responsible for making the Cranch and Carroll assisting in the establishment of intellectual discovery of the William Thomas the first law school in the City of Washington. Carroll notebooks, which unquestionably are the Law Library Lights | Spring 2012 3 most important pieces of historical legal Americana the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Helen confided that in the Law Library’s collection today. “In this job you just can’t afford to talk.…Suppose there was a ‘leak,’ and someone found out what the Helen at the Supreme Court court was going to decide. Can you imagine it?”4 Helen was appointed Associate Librarian of the Supreme Court by Chief Justice Harlan Stone in Notes from Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter 1942, and became Librarian in 1947. In Chief Jus- to Helen in the GW Law Library archives reveal a tice Earl Warren’s memorial tribute to Helen (1966), collegial working relationship, and it seems that he noted her myriad skills and talents as a librarian, in one instance she averted a gaffe – we know not but reserved his greatest praise for her enduring what, exactly – that Justice Frankfurter may have contributions to the Court’s library: enhancing its been on the verge of committing. His note to her, collection, improving its physical facilities, and on Supreme Court stationery, reads: providing the high quality and broad scope of service for which she had been noted throughout May 25, 1950 her career, and which served as a model for her Supreme Court of the United States staff.
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