The GW Law School Archive contains materials pertaining to the history of the law school from the 19th century to the present. Materials include historical documents and ephemera, including yearbooks, law school catalogs, directories, programs, announcements, law school publications such as magazines and newsletters, copies of examinations, and photographs. Among the highlights of the archive are unique materials relating to the Cy Pres Club, a GW women’s law student organization that flourished from the 1920s to the early 1950s, and became a Washington institution during those years.
Some materials relate to the National University Law School which merged with GW in 1954. A large collection of materials about the Law School is housed at the Gelman Library, including the Hugh Bernard papers. After retiring as director of the law library in 1981, Professor Bernard assembled materials and produced a body of research documenting the history of the law school. These materials span the years 1865-1984 and include minutes from meetings of the Board of Trustees pertaining to the law school, yearbooks, reports of the Dean, examinations, scrapbooks, files relating to Stockton Hall, and research notes, as well as realia such as banners, and caps/gowns. The Harold Hirsh collection also is housed at Gelman. This collection contains the medico-legal publications, as well as papers and audio/video tapes, of Dr. Harold Hirsh, former GW professor of medicine and law.
