Unique Manuscripts
Manuscripts are of course unique by nature, as highly individual, handwritten (or typewritten) witnesses to the past. Encompassing works ranging from legal documents to letters, and from diaries to account books, manuscript sources provide the fundamental basis for historical research. While the bulk of the Law Library’s special collections are printed books, important manuscript and archival sources are also held in the collections. The most important of these is the Clarence Darrow Collection, for which a separate introduction and significant letters are included below. In addition, several others are highlighted, including an important treatise of English law and a set of legal documents relating to a remarkable 18th-century Jamaican woman, who was born into slavery before inheriting her father’s estate.
