In its issue of July 12, 1817, the Boston Daily Advertiser made the announcement in an editorial notice that "the government of Harvard University have lately established, under the patronage of the University, a School for the instruction of students at law. . . . The students . . . will have access to a complete law library to be obtained for their use". "A complete law library" must have been a far simpler matter a century ago than in these times, but the Corporation evidently sensed the difficulty which has attended the establishment of the library, when its vote establishing the school ran: "The students shall have access to . . . a complete law library to be obtained for their use as soon as means for that purpose may be found."

Before 1817 there were very few law books in Cambridge. The College Library, which was described by Cotton Mather as "the best furnished that could be shown anywhere in all the American regions" contained but seven volumes of the common law, according to the catalogue published in 1723. Very few law books had been received between 1723 and 1817. The Corporation immediately granted $500 for the purchase of law books, to which were added gifts amounting to $181.74. Professor Stearns did what he could with this sum to purchase a "complete law library" and also removed from the college library as many law books as he could find.

Students Publish Catalogue

Although no more money was received by Professor Stearns to buy books directly, a few distinguished lawyers, the Hon. Christopher Gore, the Hon. Daniel Chipman, Judge Jackson, and Caleb Cushing occasionally gave their volumes to the College or to the School. The little collection of books, some of which belonged to the Professor, some given or lent by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, some given by the College for the use of law students, some lent by the College, and some purchased for the school with the original fund, were kept in Professor Stearns' office, and were soon in great confusion. As there was no money to publish an official catalogue, one was prepared by two students and printed for circulation among their fellow-students. This catalogue contained 587 titles, of which 135 belonged to the Professor, 41 were in the College library, 12 were marked as missing, and the books "given by a resolution of the Legislature obtained by the Professor in 1818" were subsequently returned, so that very little now remains of the original collection.

In 1829 the most important of all the early additions to the library was made by Professor Storey a few months after he had begun to teach. His careful collection of 563 volumes of Law Reports he agreed to sell to the College for $4 per volume and the Corporation gladly accepted the offer as the price was very low. The purchase of the remaining 507 volumes of Professor Storey's law library two years later at less than half cost made the School's library excel in size and completeness the library of any other law school in the world.

3500 Volumes in 1834

After the dedication of Dane Hall, the library was moved into two rooms on the lower floor, and according to a second catalogue prepare in 1834 it contained over 3500 volumes. After big gifts by Mr. Livermore and Mr. Story, the third catalogue was made in 1841, 6100 books being listed.

At this time, although the librarian boasted in his report that "The donations and importations since 1834 have been such as to enable the student to verify every citation which is made in Blackstone's Commentaries, and nearly complete the collection of European law, both British and Continental, from the earliest times down to the eighteenth century" the library was far from being complete. A writer in the "American Jurist" in 1841 said that though the departments of English and American law were nearly complete, "there is a great deal to be desired in some departments of general jurisprudence". There were almost no books on Roman law, suited for the modern student; on criminal law and prison discipline; on public law and the philosophy of law; or on German law, which were being produced in great numbers at that time.

About $2500 was being spent annually for books at this time, and by 1846 the library had nearly doubled in size, the annual catalogue listing about 12,000 volumes.

Langdell Appointed Dean

Professor Story died in 1845, and Professor Greenleaf, who had taken great interest in the library, resigned three years later. From this time until 1870, when Mr. Langdell became Dean, the growth of the library was almost at a standstill. An average of only 125 books a year bought for 24 years, a great many of which were duplicate text-books furnished by graduating students.

Mr. Langdell began the modern life of the School and of its library in 1870. Three steps were necessary and were taken at once. A permanent librarian was employed to prevent the loss of books: students were no longer supplied with free textbooks; and duplicates of reports and other books that were in frequent demand were supplied.

From 1870 until the present the space given the School library in the reports of the Deans to the President and the President to the Overseers indicates its importance in the minds of the governing boards of the University. As the President said, "The Corporation recognize the fact that the library is the very heart of the School."

By 1873 the collection had become so large that the library in Dane Hall was uncomfortably crowded. The risk of fire also began to worry the authorities, for the building was not fireproof and several open fires were kept burning during the winter to heat it. "If the library should be destroyed," said the Dean, "it is probably safe to say that a hundred thousand dollars would not replace it; and its value is increasing rapidly."

Finally, in 1882, the library was moved into "the very handsome and commodious building which the School owes to Edward Austin, Esq., of Boston."