If you’ve ever wondered what’s in room C38 in the cellar of the library, here is a brief overview of the Brooklyn Law School Archives which are housed there.
BLS Law Notes: The Magazine of Brooklyn Law School: This publication contains news of both faculty and alumni. The archives has copies back to 1996 and it is still published today both online and in print.
Bulletins: While the school no longer publishes a hard copy bulletin or school catalog, the archives does contain the bulletins published from 1903 to 2006, the year of the last print edition. These bulletins, for those who don’t remember them, contained an introduction to the school, a description of the faculty and a listing of the courses offered.
Class Pictures: Pictures of the graduating classes from 1901 to 1969.
Commencement Programs: Programs for the graduation exercises from 1903 to date.
Justinian: The Justinian was the school newspaper, written by students for the BLS community. The Justinian was published for sixty years, from 1938 to 1998. After an interval of four years, the student newspaper was re-named BLS News and was published from 2002 to 2006. Both papers contained articles reporting on the activities of student organizations, student opinion pieces on various topics, interviews with well-known alumni, profiles of new faculty members, editorials and letters from students recommending various changes to the school’s administration. The administration does really listen to students and as I reviewed some of these editorials and letters, I noted that most of their recommendations were realized, maybe not as quickly as students wanted, but their wishes did come true!
Photo Profiles: Print copies of pictures of the BLS entering classes from 1984 to 2001. Now available online and called the “BLS Facebook.”
Yearbooks: The BLS yearbooks from 1982 to date, containing pictures of the graduating classes. Also, copies of The Chancellor which was published for the following years: 1930, 1932-1935, 1948 and 1954.
There are also miscellaneous items such as a collection of interior and exterior pictures of the school when it was located at 375 Pearl Street, pictures of the 2001 centennial celebration and the book drafts and notes from Jeffrey B. Morris, the author of Brooklyn Law School: the First 100 Years.
If you are interested in looking at any material in the archives, contact the library reference desk. Phone: 718-780-7567 or e-mail: refdesk@brooklaw.edu.
