Mark De Wolfe Howe research materials relating to life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Overview
Research materials created or collected by Mark De Wolfe Howe in his capacity as the official biographer of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Dates
- 1858-1968
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 and 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 and 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
13.5 linear feet (33 boxes)The Mark De Wolfe Howe (MDH) Research materials relating to the life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. represents a collection of materials created or collected by Howe during the process of writing the biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Howe did not complete this project but did succeed in publishing Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Shaping Years, 1841-1870 and The Proving Years, 1870-1882. The bulk of MDH’s materials is from the 1940s, while the OWH material in this collection spans from the 1860s to the 1930s.
The correspondence series are primarily MDH’s transcripts of original letters in the OWH collection. Some transcripts are of letters written by OWH, but the originals are held at another repository. However, there is some original correspondence in the collection which was collected by MDH in the process of researching OWH's life. There is also some correspondence between MDH and donors. Mixed in with some of the correspondence are some of MDH's handwritten notes.
Historical/Biographical Information
- May 22, 1906 b. Boston, Massachusetts. s. Mark Antony De Wolfe and Fanny Huntington Howe.
- 1928 A.B. Harvard College
- 1933 LL.B. Harvard Law School
- February 19, 1935 m. Mary Manning; children: Susan, Fanny, Helen
- 1933 to 1934 Secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
- 1933 Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar
- 1933 to 1937 Practiced in Boston with Hill, Barlow, Goodale and Wiswall
- 1937 to 1945 Professor of Law, University of Buffalo School of Law
- 1941 to 1945 Dean of the University of Buffalo School of Law
- 1945 to 1967 Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
- 1966 to 1967 Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, (appointed, December 1965)
- February 28, 1967 d. Cambridge, Massachusetts
- May 22, 1906
- b. Boston, Massachusetts. s. Mark Antony De Wolfe and Fanny Huntington Howe.
- 1928
- A.B. Harvard College
- 1933
- LL.B. Harvard Law School
- February 19, 1935
- m. Mary Manning; children: Susan, Fanny, Helen
- 1933 to1934
- Secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
- 1933
- Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar
- 1933 to1937
- Practiced in Boston with Hill, Barlow, Goodale and Wiswall
- 1937 to 1945
- Professor of Law, University of Buffalo School of Law
- 1941 to 1945
- Dean of the University of Buffalo School of Law
- 1945 to 1967
- Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
- 1966 to 1967
- Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, (appointed, December 1965)
- February 28, 1967
- d. Cambridge, Massachusetts
Author:
- Cases on Church and State in the United States. 1950, 1952.
- Constitutional Law; cases and other problems with Paul A. Freund, Arthur E.Sutherland, Ernest J. Brown. 1954, 1967.
- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Shaping Years, 1841-1870. 1957.
- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Proving Years, 1870-1882. 1963.
- The Garden and the Wilderness: Religion and Government in American Constitutional History. 1965.
- Civil Rights, The Constitution and the Courts, by Archibald Cox, Mark De Wolfe Howe, and J.R. Wiggins.1967.
Series List/Description
- Series I. Major Correspondence, 1874-1935 1874-1935
- ___ Subseries A. Einstein, Lewis, 1903-1932 1903-1932
- ___ Subseries B. Frankfurter, Felix, 1912-1934 1912-1934
- ___ Subseries C. Gray, John Chipman, 1883-1914 1883-1914
- ___ Subseries D. Gray, Nina, 1888-1932 1888-1932
- ___ Subseries E. Laski, Harold, 1916-1935 1916-1935
- ___ Subseries F. Pollock, Frederick, 1874-1932 1874-1932
- Series II. General Correspondence, 1858-1935 1858-1935
- ___ Subseries A. General, Group II, 1858-1935 1858-1935
- ___ Subseries B. General, Group III, n.d. n.d.
- ___ Subseries C. Correspondence by OWH, 1864-1934 1864-1934
- ___ Subseries D. Kaneko, Kentaro, 1878-1935 1878-1935
- Series III. Judicial Papers, 1882-1931 1882-1931
- Series IV. MDH research materials, 1858-1968 1858-1968
- ___ Suberies A. Miscellaneous Biographical Information, 1862-1965 1862-1965
- ___ Subseries B. MDH Correspondence, 1860-1966 1860-1966
- ___ Subseries C. Bio material re: OWH, 1953-1968 1953-1968
- ___ Subseries D. Holmes - uncollected Essays, 1858-1912 1858-1912
- Within each series and/or subseries individual items orfolders are identified by box and folder number. For example, thenumber 5-12 corresponds to box 5, folder 12.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Mark De Wolfe Howe collection of research materials relating to the life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1858-1968 was donated to the President and Fellows of Harvard University by gift of deed on May 28, 1968, by Mary Manning Howe, widow of Mark De Wolfe Howe.
Existence and Location of Copies
The entirety of the Mark De Wolfe Howe Research Materials On Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1858-1968 has been digitized. To access individual folders, please click the appropriate link in the container list below. The collection comprises part of the now retired Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Digital Suite , which brought together all of the digitized holdings of the Harvard Law School Library by or about Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. The suite is currently being migrated to the Harvard Library CURIOSity platform, and will be available some time in 2023.
Processing Information
In 2011 the collection known as the Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935), Papers 1637-1967, was reprocessed by Margaret Peachy. Five new collections were created from this one collection:
- The John G. Palfrey (1875-1945)Collection of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Papers, 1715-1938;
- The Mark De Wolfe Howe Research Materials On Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1858-1968;
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,Addenda, 1818-1978;
- The Edward J. Holmes Collection ofOliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Materials, 1853-1944;
- Letters from Holmes to Lady Castleton Small ManuscriptCollection.
The decision to reprocess the original Holmes papers was based primarily on two factors. First, the original Holmes donation (i.e. the material gathered by his executor John G. Palfrey) had been corrupted by the inclusion of additional material over many years from various sources, which combined to create a collection that misrepresented the original donation. Second, this practice of adding to the original collection resulted in a complex and difficult to use finding aid.
- Brandeis, Louis Dembitz, 1856-1941
- Cohen, Morris R. (Morris Raphael), 1880-1947
- Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965
- Hand, Learned, 1872-1961
- Holmes, Fanny Bowditch Dixwell, 1840-1929
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 1841-1935
- Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948
- James, Henry, 1843-1916
- Judges
- Kaneko, Kentarō, 1853-1942
- Lawyers
- Palfrey, John Gorham, 1796-1881
- Pound, Roscoe, 1870-1964
- Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930
- United States. Supreme Court.
- Wigmore, John Henry, 1863-1943
- Wigmore, John Henry, 1863-1943
- Wu, Jingxiong, 1899-1986
- Title
- Howe, Mark De Wolfe. Research materials relating to life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1858-1968
- Author
- Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, MA 02138
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- law00239
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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