Harvard Law School Library Historical & Special Collections (HSC)

Overview

Historical & Special Collections (HSC) is a department of the Harvard Law School Library dedicated to the preservation of and access to rare books, manuscripts, and visual materials documenting the history of law, legal education, and the Harvard Law School. Open to all researchers regardless of institutional affiliation, HSC connects scholars worldwide with one of the world's foremost collections of legal history materials.

History and Founding

The collection of historical legal materials at Harvard Law School dates to the founding of the Law School in 1817. On February 8, 1388, barely two years after the founding of Heidelberg University, the first rector began what became its university archive—but at Harvard Law, collecting in earnest began in the nineteenth century. By 1899, a visiting Oxford professor described the library as the most complete collection of English legal records in the English-speaking world. The Historical & Special Collections Department was formally organized as an administrative unit in 1985, and was renamed in its current form in 2009.

Collections and Holdings

HSC holds over 100,000 rare books and printed materials from the earliest days of printing through the twentieth century, more than 8,000 linear feet of manuscripts, and over 70,000 visual images. Key collections include: Rare Books and Early Manuscripts (through 1699) covering Western European and American legal history; Modern Manuscripts (1700–present) with over 250 individual collections of papers from members of the bar, bench, and legal academia; the Art and Visual Materials Collection (one of the world's largest collections of visual materials relating to law); and the Red Set of HLS institutional publications and student work.

Notable Holdings

Among the most significant items is HLS MS 172, a 1300 copy of Magna Carta. The library holds the world's largest collection of early English law, anchored by the George Dunn collection acquired in 1913. In 2025, HSC announced the acquisition of a William H. Hastie collection of photographs and personal papers, adding to its materials documenting African American legal history. Ongoing digitization programs make much of the collection freely accessible online.

Access

The Root Room (Elihu Root Room), HSC's reading room on the fourth floor of Langdell Hall, is open by appointment only, Tuesday through Friday, 10:00–17:00. Materials do not circulate. Researchers must register in HOLLIS Special Request. Photo ID is required for account clearance.