15. Collecting the History of Anglo-Saxon Law

10-14 July 1995

This course is intended for individuals who collect in some aspect of the history of the law and for librarians who have custody of historical legal materials and wish to form focused collections. It will survey printed and MS materials in Anglo-American law and introduce its bibliography and curatorship. Course topics include: the role of legal materials in the development of the common law; the history of the production and distribution of law books; legal bibliographies, catalogs, and reference books; philosophy and techniques of collecting; acquiring books, MSS, and ephemera in the antiquarian book trade; and the history of the collection of legal materials by private collectors and institutions.

1. How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: The readings were very germane, but I received the list late after applying early. Why not supply the list at the time of application, before the admission decision? 2: Readings were carefully chosen and very useful for providing a solid base from which to build. 3: Very useful. 4: Very useful, especially the TB article. 5: Very useful, especially ABCs and the historical surveys. 6: I did not read most of the materials -- busy and went to a law library only once. 7: The readings were excellent and provided invaluable background to the course. 8: Very useful.

2. Did your instructors prepare properly and sufficiently to teach THIS course?

1: Yes. The course materials will be quite valuable as a reference tool. 2: The course materials were the most extensive I've ever re-ceived in RBS. They will be useful for years to come. 3: Adequately prepared. Materials have been and will continue to be useful. 4: Yes. 5: I anticipate that the classroom materials, especially the bibliographies, will be very useful. 6: Yes, yes (and yes). 7: Instructors did an excellent job. The notebook of handouts is excellent and will be a resource for me for years to come. I appreciate the work they did compiling it. 8: Yes, yes.

3. Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate?

1: Very much so. 2: Extremely stimulating and challenging, as well as accessible to all participants. 3-4: Yes. 5: Yes. The course could have been a little more rigorous. 6: Yes. 7: Right on target. 8: Yes.

4. If your course had field trips, were they effective?

1: Yes. We had the opportunity to see some representative high points of the UVa's law collection. 3: Yes. 4: Yes, just the right amount of time spent at the UVa Law Library Special Collections and great cab rides. 5: Yes. 7: I enjoyed seeing Special Collections at UVa. 8: Yes.

5. Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1: Good correlation. Expectations were met. 2: Absolutely. 3: Yes. 4: Yes. The course was very good and very helpful to me in gaining a greater appreciation of historical legal materials. Caused me to rethink our treatment of the general collection. 5-8: Yes.

6. What did you like best about the course?

1: The team teaching method I thought was very productive. Both instructors had a great deal to offer and complemented each other's presentations in a truly collegial fashion. Questions were freely en-tertained and discussions were fruitful. 2: The tremendous breadth of knowledge, experience, and interest of both instructors, as well as their boundless enthusiasm for their subject and for teaching. 3: Instructors knew their business, presented it well, and were helpful. 4: Especially liked the rapport between MC and DW and the questions they posed one another. They helped to bring out ad-ditional information. 5: The open discussion about problems ac-quiring material. 6: Instructors. 7: I learned a lot from the two as-signments. I liked the interaction between the two instructors. I liked the notebook of handouts we received. I enjoyed learning about the collecting interests of the other students. 8: The opportunity of learning more about rare law books and legal history. It was interesting to hear about various collections.

7. How could the course have been improved?

1: Perhaps a somewhat longer time could be devoted to manuscript materials; nonetheless, the course materials do provide leads for further study. 2: I can't imagine how it could be improved. 3: Do not know. 5: Perhaps better pacing. 6: Mail out the pre-course readings, or some of them. 8: Perhaps a little less time on the col-lection development exercise.

8. Any final thoughts?

1: Future students will benefit much from MC and DW's knowledgeable teaching and good humor. 3: I would recommend it strongly to any attorney interested in research and legal history. 5: Suggest that such individuals give some thought to problems they have and come to RBS prepared to discuss them. I enjoyed this course very much. I feel it will be useful in my work and future and would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. I would also recommend RBS in general. 6: Take the time to do the pre-course readings. 8: I found the course extremely helpful in learning the basics of collecting historical materials for a law library.

Number of respondents: 8

Percentages