Red Set Small Manuscript Collection
HOLLIS 2080846
This library pass, issued to Harvard Law School (HLS) student Frederic Dodge (LL.B. 1869) in 1868, provided access to a library very different from the library of today. That library, then on the first floor of Dane Hall and managed by a single librarian, contained 15,000 volumes (compared to today’s 2 million). In 1868, the Library held “a large collection of Scotch [sic], French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and other Foreign Law.” It did not hold anywhere near the volumes from over 250 jurisdictions of foreign and international law that are here today. Students like Dodge, who went on to be a federal judge, were encouraged to use the Library for study and particularly to prepare for moot court cases.