By Heather
Kushnerick, Special Collections Librarian & College Archivist
The Library’s Special Collections, tucked in an
out-of-the-way room in the Cullen building, houses the College Archives,
Manuscript Collections, and an impressive Rare Books Collection (if we do say
so ourselves). The Rare Books Collection focuses on seminal works in legal
history, English common law, Spanish and Mexican law, Texas legal history, and
maritime law. The oldest item in our collection was printed in 1481, but the
content of the collection, which includes the Rolls of Oleron, the Institutes
of Justinian, and the Will of
Aethelgifu, covers close to two thousand years of legal history.
The Library actively seeks out rare books to add to our
collection, but finding items that fit within our collection is challenging for
many reasons. First, of course, is the limited scope of subjects we collect. We
only collect books on or about the law and, within that, we only collect in
small, defined areas. Second, and most importantly, is that we call it the
“Rare Books Collection” for a reason: the items we collect are hard to find. Books
today are mass-produced and, usually, easy to obtain. This is not the case with
books printed prior to the 19th century. Printing houses typically only
produced what they thought they could sell. Finally, books have to be taken
care of in order to last. War, politics, acts of nature, and simple use all factor
in to whether or not a book will survive the passage of time. When all these
conditions, and the stars, align, we find an item to add to our collection.
Several of our recent acquisitions are on display now in the
Library lobby. This includes the first English law dictionary, a study on the
impact of smuggling in Spain’s’ American colonies, and a manuscript legal
opinion from the Court of Admiralty on salvage during the English Civil War.
