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Indiana Legislature proceedings from 19^th century now available on line

Nineteenth-century proceedings of the Indiana General Assembly are now available on line, thanks to a joint project between the IU Maurer School of Law Library and the IU Digital Library Program.

For four decades, Brevier Legislative Reports reported on all debates and other business before the General Assembly, from the Civil War to the adoption of three important constitutional amendments. “Legislative bodies are a microcosm of the society they represent, and a reflection of the time period in which they operate,” said Michael Maben, associate librarian with the IU Maurer School of Law Library. “The availability of the legislature’s proceedings in a digital, searchable format will be a wonderful research tool for anyone interested in the state’s history.”

The Brevier Legislative Reports consist of twenty-two bibliographic volumes in nineteen physical volumes, amounting to nearly 8,000 pages of text. The set covers all sessions of the General Assembly from 1858 to 1887, with the exception of the latter part of the 1875 Regular Session, the 1875 Special Session, and the 1877 Regular and Special Sessions. The prosecution of the Civil War dominates discussion during the early years, but additional significant issues of the times were debated, including women’s suffrage, railroads, election of U.S. senators, temperance and prohibition, education, and civil rights. The Reports also contain the mundane of the legislative process, including on January 12, 1881 “that the Doorkeeper appoint Mr. L.L. Dilly, a one-armed soldier, as one of his assistants.”

“The Brevier project is a magnificent contribution to the body of knowledge about nineteenth century legal history,” said Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. “The decades following the Civil War were a period of sweeping legal change. The Brevier Legislative Reports will provide scholars and legal practitioners with a more fulsome and reliable view of the social and political story in one of the nation’s largest industrializing states. The Maurer School’s librarians and the Digital Library Program have rescued from virtual oblivion a rich legal treasure of national proportions.”

The Brevier Legislative Reports digitization project was a joint collaboration between the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Library and the Indiana University Digital Library Program. A Library Services and Technology grant under the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the Indiana State Library was awarded in May 2008, making the digitization project possible. In addition, the project received a grant-in-aid from the Indiana University – Bloomington vice-provost for research.

Access to the Reports is available on the Internet free of charge at http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/law/brevier/

About the IU Digital Library Program

The IU Digital Library Program is a collaborative effort of the IU Libraries, University Information Technology Services, and the university research faculty with leadership from the School of Library and Information Science and the School of Informatics and Computing.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.