© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Darrow, Clarence. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Clarence S. Darrow (1857-1938) was a lawyer and social reformer who made his home and practiced law in Chicago. Throughout his life he was an active campaigner for the rights of the individual, especially the underprivileged. Darrow had a national reputation in labor law and was the counsel for labor interests throughout the country. His later legal career was mainly in criminal law. A series of spectacular trials, in particular the Leopold-Loeb case in Chicago, 1924, made him world-famous. Perhaps his most famous case was his defense of John Thomas Scopes in 1925 for violation of a Tennessee law banning the teaching of evolution in the public schools. He wrote several books expounding his views and published many lectures and debates as pamphlets. His essays and short stories were published in popular magazines and small journals.
The collection of his papers deposited in the University of Chicago Library contains mimeographed press releases issued by Darrow during the Scopes trial that contained the testimony of various defense witnesses and experts in their scientific fields. Also included are several speeches and articles. Most of the latter are based on true stories and describe the encounter of the underprivileged and the uneducated with the law and the inequities they met. The original manuscript of an unpublished short story by Darrow, written very late in his life, is also a part of the collection. There are several pieces of correspondence, the closing argument of one of his court cases, and other miscellaneous documents. Also included in the collection are letters to Mrs. Darrow after his death, memorials on his death, and speeches and articles written about him.