Work Hard and Die Poor: The History of Law Libraries in Indiana

Abstract

Printed legal materials have been utilized by practitioners since the dawn of the Anglo-European legal system in what is now the United States. When Indiana was opened for settlement, attorneys and judges brought their private libraries to the state. These initial collections were much smaller than the robust and extensive law libraries that existed in the state prior to the advent of digital legal resources. This paper tracks the development of law libraries in Indiana from the territorial period through the present day, along with the social and economic trends that impacted library development.