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Posted by: Jennifer Davis
On December 30, 1903, a fire broke out in the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois when a broken arc light ignited a muslin curtain. The theatre burned to the ground and over 600 theatre occupants, more than two-thirds women and children, died of asphyxiation, burns, or trampling. It remains one of the deadliest fires in …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Jennifer González
Yesterday I highlighted 14 Nobel Peace Prize winners who were leaders of their country before, during, or after they won the prize. Today, I will highlight 19 more winners with legal backgrounds. Many of these laureates were leaders in international law, disarmament policies, or helped to broker peace in time of conflict. Elihu Root was …
Posted in: Education, Law Library
Posted by: Jennifer González
As Elin mentioned yesterday, the Nobel Peace Prize will be given out on Thursday in Oslo, Norway. I was interested in the recipients this year, the National Dialogue Quartet, and while researching I found that one quarter of this organization was the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. That piqued my interest as to how many other …
Posted in: Education, Law Library
Posted by: Jennifer González
On this day, 215 years ago, Congress met in the Capitol Building for the first time. The Sixth Congress established the residence of the Congress and seat of the United States government in Washington, D.C. with the move on November 17, 1800. The newly established United States had nine capitals between 1776 and 1800: Philadelphia, …
Posted in: Education, Law Library
Posted by: Robert Brammer
We here at the Law Library of Congress are excited to learn that the Harvard Law School Library and the legal research platform, Ravel, are teaming up to scan and make available online 40 million pages of American caselaw from Harvard’s vast collection. The best part is that this content will be made freely available, …
Posted in: In the News, Law Library
Posted by: Ruth Levush
The following is a guest post by Theresa Papademetriou, a senior foreign law specialist at the Law Library of Congress who covers the European Union, Greece, Cyprus and Council of Europe. Theresa has previously blogged on “European Union Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights,” “European Union: Where is the Beef?,” “New Greek Regulation Designed to Fight Tax Evasion Problem: Will …
Posted in: Frequently Asked Legal Questions (FALQ), Global Law, Guest Post, In the News
Posted by: Margaret Wood
I recently re-read one of my favorite childhood books, Karen by Marie Killilea. The book recounts the struggles of the author’s daughter who was born with cerebral palsy and her challenges to lead a normal life. The author also mentions Frances Giden Berko who had cerebral palsy as well and this caught my attention because …
Posted in: Congress, Law Library
Posted by: Barbara Bavis
This week’s interview is with Debbie Shrager, a legal reference librarian with the Public Services Division of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and still love cheesesteaks, hoagies, and “the shore.” I’ve also lived in New York, Chicago, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Northern Virginia has been home for …
Posted in: Interview, Law Library
Posted by: Ruth Levush
This week’s interview is with Chloe Gillenwater, a foreign law intern working in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I was born and raised in Paris. I’m a French lawyer with a Paris Ouest Nanterre Master 2 and an LL.M from Duke University, and have been admitted to the …
Posted in: Interview