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COLLECTION Identifier: HOLLIS 8654310

Andrew L. Kaufman research notes and materials for the biography of Bernjamin Cardozo

Overview

This collection consists of material collected and created by Andrew L. Kaufman as part of the research for his book, Cardozo (1998).

Dates

  • Creation: 1898-1998

Conditions Governing Access

Access to these papers is governed by the rules and regulations of the Harvard Law School Library. This collection is open to the public, but is housed off-site at Harvard Depository and requires 2 business-day advance notice for retrieval. Consult the Historical & Special Collections staff for further information.

Conditions Governing Use

The Harvard Law School Library holds copyright on some, but not all, of the material in our collections. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to the Historical & Special Collections staff. Researchers who obtain permission to publish from the Harvard Law School Library are also responsible for identifying and contacting the persons or organizations who hold copyright.

Extent

1 collection (10 linear feet in 22 boxes.)

This collection consists of material used by Andrew L. Kaufman as part of the research for his biography of Benjamin N. Cardozo (BNC). Material consists of correspondence, research notes, writings, and interviews (transcripts and audio tapes). There is a mix of both original material created by Kaufman as well as secondary material that he collected from various repositories. (Kaufman should not be held accountable for the accuracy of this secondary material and users are encouraged to check case files themselves.) A distinction between the two sets of material is identified whenever possible. With the exception of Kaufman’s interviews and some original correspondence, the bulk of the collection is comprised of copies and transcriptions of material.

Some of the material consists of copies of correspondence that was either copied by hand or reproduced from dictation into a tape recorded because of restrictions placed on the author by the then owner of the documents. A current researcher should consult the original if they have become available. Cardozo's memoranda to his colleagues, which were made available to the author by the Court of Appeals, but only for note taking, are now available to scholars in the New York State Archives.

Historical/Biographical Information

In 1957, on the recommendation of Felix Frankfurter, Harvard University Press contracted Andrew L. Kaufman to write a biography of the historically renowned legal figure, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, (1870-1938). Cardozo was a lawyer, chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and a justice of the United States Supreme Court. Kaufman's book, Cardozo, was published in 1998.

Kaufman is the Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Past appointments include: Lecturer on Law, 1965; Professor of Law, 1966; and Associate Dean, 1986-1989. Kaufman received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1951 and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1954. His research interests are Constitutional Law and Professional Ethics. Other publications include Commercial Law, with V. Countryman and Z. Wiseman, 2d ed. (Little, Brown, 1989); Problems in Professional Responsibility, 3d ed. (Little, Brown, 1989).

Series List

  1. Series I. Professional Career This series is broken down into four subseries, each representinga stage in Cardozo's career.
  2. ___Subseries A. Private Practice, 1891-19141891-1914Cardozopracticed law with his brother, Albert Jr., in New York City aftergraduating from Columbia University.
  3. ___SubseriesB. Associate Justice, Supreme Court of New York, 1914-19171914-1917
  4. ___Subseries C. Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals, 1917-19321917-1932
  5. ___Subseries D. Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, 1932-19381932-1938
  6. Series II. BNC Writings and Speeches
  7. Series III. Cardozo Correspondence

    This series contains correspondence to and from Cardozo. Theletters are arranged alphabetically and are either copies ortranscriptions.

  8. Series IV. Cardozo Family Thisseries includes a group of material regarding Cardozo's father,Albert Sr., as well as biographical material about Cardozo andmaterial about other family members and friends of the family. Most of these documents are copies.
  9. ___Subseries A: Albert Cardozo, Sr.Letters are arranged alphabetically byauthor and chronologically within each authorentry.
  10. ___Subseries B: BNCmaterial
  11. ___Subseries C: CardozoFamily and Friends
  12. Series V. Primary Research Material Subseries A contains notes Kaufman made from interviews heconducted as part of his research. Subseries B and C contain notesKaufman took when reviewing material he gathered from variousrepositories.
  13. ___Subseries A. Kaufman’s original interview notes
  14. ___Subseries B. Notebooks containing notes andtranscriptions made by Kaufman from material in variousrepositories
  15. ___Subseries C. Notesand transcriptions made by Kaufman from interviews conducted by otherresearchers
  16. ___Subseries D. Correspondence about BNCTheseare copies or transcriptions of correspondence the subject of whichis Cardozo.
  17. Series VI. Additional Research material
  18. ___Subseries A. Published articles
  19. ___Subseries B. Other publishedarticles
  20. ___Subseries C. Correspondence to and from Kaufman
  21. ___Subseries D. Material created by GeorgeHellmanGeorge Hellman published a biographyof Cardozo in 1940. Kaufman reviewed some his research but should notbe held accountable to the accuracy for Hellman's research.
  22. Series VII Miscellaneous

    Thisseries includes interview recordings on nine 7" audio reels and indexcard files kept by Kaufman during his research.

Physical Location

Harvard Depository

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Andrew L. Kaufman to the Harvard Law School Library in 1997.

Processing Information

Processed by David Read and Anne Lozier, 2001.

Reprocessed by Edwin Moloy in 2013.

The author, Andrew Kaufman, had an original file order that was disrupted during the initial processing of the collection in 2001. In order to re-establish the collection's original order a reprocessing project was started in 2012 and completed in 2013. The reprocessing was done in consultation with the author and every attempt was made to duplicate his original file order. Important changes include: 1) improved identification of Cardozo family material, especially that relating to Cardozo's father, Albert Cardozo, Sr.; 2) Cardozo’s work was arranged to represent each distinct phase of his professional career; and 3) consolidating as much material as possible created by George Hellman, a Cardozo biographer in the 1930s. While the resulting finding aid better reflects the overall original order it should be noted that a completely accurate reproduction was not achieved. No material was removed during this project.

Kaufman was careful to identify the source of secondary material as often as possible. To do so, he used abbreviations for a repository on his notes. The following is a list of these abbreviations for some of the primary collections used by Kaufman.

  1. AJA – American Jewish Archives
  2. C/CC – Columbia Cardozo Collection
  3. C/OH -- ColumbiaOral History
  4. HLS – Harvard Law School
  5. LC(LOC) – Library of Congress
  6. NYCBA – New York City BarAssociation
  7. RWA – Radcliffe WomansArchive
Title
Kaufman, Andrew L. Research notes and materials for the biography of Benjamin Cardozo 1898 - 1998: Finding Aid.
Author
Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, MA 02138
Language of description
und
EAD ID
law00035

Repository Details

Part of the Harvard Law School Library, Historical & Special Collections Repository

Harvard Law School Library's Historical & Special Collections (HSC) collects, preserves, and makes available research materials for the study of the law and legal history. HSC holds over 8,000 linear feet of manuscripts, over 100,000 rare books, and more than 70,000 visual images.

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