© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2014 University of Chicago Library
The collection is open for research, with the exception of material in Series XXV. This series contains restricted student materials, and is restricted for 80 years from date of record creation.
Series XXIII, Audiovisual, does not include an access copy for the audio and video recordings. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting these items.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Llewellyn, Karl N. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Karl Nickerson Llewellyn was born on May 22, 1893 in Seattle, Washington to Janet George and William H. Llewellyn. He spent his formative years in Brooklyn, New York, and upon graduation from high school studied for two years in a Realgymnasium in Schwerin, Germany. He then enrolled at Yale University in 1911 as a classics major. In 1914 he entered the Sorbonne, in Paris, to study Latin, law, and French. Upon the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the German army. He was wounded in battle and received the Iron Cross. Returning to Yale, he graduated magna cum laude in 1915, and was accepted into the Yale Law School where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following graduation, he taught commercial law at Yale for two years. Seeking experience outside of the classroom, Llewellyn worked for the legal department of the National City Bank of New York, and later for the law firm of Shearman and Sterling from 1920 to 1922. He returned to the Yale Law School as an Assistant Professor in 1922, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1923.
In 1924, Llewellyn married Elizabeth Sanford, then a student at Columbia University. That same year, Llewellyn accepted a teaching position at the Columbia University Law School where he remained until 1951. During this time, Llewellyn published a number of important books including his famous introductory lectures, The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study (1931). Llewellyn gained wide recognition as a scholar of jurisprudence, and he was a major figure in the jurisprudential school of Legal Realism. He attained full professorship in 1927. Amidst his teaching duties and his extensive writing, Llewellyn found the time to collaborate with anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel on studies of Cheyenne and Pueblo law, to serve as chairman of the Committee on Revised Uniform Sales Act and drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code (1940-1949), and accept visiting professorships at the University of Leipzig (1928-1929, 1931-1932) and Harvard Law School (1948-1949). He remarried twice during this period: first to Emma Corstvet in 1933, then to Soia Mentschikoff in 1946.
In 1950, Llewellyn accepted the Presidency of the Association of American Law Schools. The following year, Llewellyn and Soia Mentschikoff joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School. Llewellyn remained at the University of Chicago for the rest of his career, teaching courses primarily on jurisprudence and legal argument. He continued to work on the Uniform Commercial Code, served as Commissioner on Rights, Liberties, and Responsibilities of the American Indian in 1956, and published his book The Common Law Tradition: Deciding Appeals in 1960.
Karl Llewellyn died in Chicago on February 13, 1962.
The Karl N. Llewellyn Papers are organized into twenty-five series:
Series I: Published Works
Series II: Unpublished Works
Series III: Transcripts and Recordings
Series IV: German Materials
Series V: National City Bank
Series VI: Uniform State Laws
Series VII: Sacco-Vanzetti Case
Series VIII: Legal Profession
Series IX: American Indian Law
Series X: Uniform Commercial Code
Series XI: Teaching Materials - Contracts and Commercial Law
Series XII: Teaching Materials - Jurisprudence;
Series XIII: Teaching Materials - Elements
Series XIV: Teaching Materials - Legal Argument
Series XV: Teaching Materials - Miscellaneous Courses;
Series XVI: Teaching Materials - Student Work
Series XVII: Legal Education and Law School Affairs
Series XVIII: Correspondence
Series XIX: Personal
Series XX: Conferences and Activities
Series XXI: D. J. S. Teufelsdröckh
Series XXII: Emma Corstvet
Series XXIII: Audiovisual
Series XXIV: Oversize
Series XXV: Restricted
The papers were first organized and described in 1968 by William Twining, and additional layers of description have been added throughout the years by other individuals. This guide incorporates addenda to the collection, and retains the basic organizational structure and granularity of description established by Twining and his successors. The papers represent the full span of Llewellyn's career and personal life. They include material pertaining to Llewellyn's research, writing, and teaching; material relevant to his professional activities including his work on the Uniform Commercial Code; writings of others collected by Llewellyn; correspondence; personal ephemera; papers of family members; photographs; audio recordings and transcripts; and videos. Materials date between 1890 and 1983, with the bulk of the material dating between 1914 and 1962. Detailed series descriptions are found at the beginning of each series in the inventory section of the guide.
This series includes notes, manuscripts, drafts, copies, and reviews of Llewellyn's published writings, as well as published writings of others collected by Llewellyn. It is divided into five subseries:
Subseries 1: Published Works of Karl Llewellyn
Subseries 2: Published Works of Karl Llewellyn with Annotations
Subseries 3: Manuscripts, Drafts, Notes, Correspondence, and Proofs
Subseries 4: Published Works about Karl Llewellyn
Subseries 5: Published Works of Others, Annotated by Llewellyn
Materials in each subseries are organized chronologically. Subseries 3 is in reverse chronological order by date of publication.
This series contains unpublished writings by Llewellyn. The series is divided into three subseries, which are further subdivided. Material within each sub-subseries is in alphabetical order by title, with the exception of Verse which is in chronological order.
Subseries 1: Legal Prose
Sub-subseries 1: Pre-1931
Sub-subseries 2: 1931-1940
Sub-subseries 3: 1941-1950
Sub-subseries 4: 1951-1962
Sub-subseries 5: Undated
Sub-subseries 6: Notes
Subseries 2: Non-legal Prose
Sub-subseries 1: Concerning World War I
Sub-subseries 2: College Essays
Sub-subseries 3: Social and Political Comment
Sub-subseries 4: Personal Essays
Sub-subseries 5: Light Essays
Sub-subseries 6: General Fiction
Sub-subseries 7: Bible Stories
Sub-subseries 8: Camp Drama
Sub-subseries 9: Translations
Subseries 3: Verse
This series contains transcripts and recordings of Llewellyn's lectures and speeches. Texts of lectures and speeches which were written out in advance or subsequently revised for publication are filed as manuscripts in Series I and II. Materials in this series are in chronological order.
This series contains material relevant to Llewellyn's experiences and interest in Germany. From 1909 to 1911 he studied in Schwerin. He served in the German army from 1914 to 1915. In 1928 and again in 1931 he studied and lectured in Leipzig. Materials are roughly grouped by type, beginning with a small amount of material from his days as a student and soldier in Germany, followed by correspondence, manuscripts, and personal ephemera.
This series represents Llewellyn's employment with the legal department of the National City Bank in New York from 1920 to 1922 (later a wing of the law firm of Shearman and Sterling). Materials are organized by type.
Llewellyn was an active member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. This series represents his work for the Conference, with the exception of material related to the Commercial Code and Revised Sales Act which is gathered in Series X. Material pertaining to the business of the Conference is grouped at the beginning of this series, followed by material related to the Uniform Trust Receipts Act, and finally Uniform State Laws materials grouped alphabetically by topic.
Llewellyn was a member of the Sacco-Vanzetti National League, and in 1928 he agreed to edit for the League a collection of critical analyses of the Report of the Lowell Committee. This project evolved into a book, "Sacco and Vanzetti v. the Commonwealth: An Indictment of the Workings of Our Judicial Institutions," which was unpublished in Llewellyn's lifetime. The first half of this series contains research material, notes, and drafts for the book. This is followed by correspondence and research material related to the case.
This series contains material relevant to Llewellyn's involvement in professional organizations and legal services, particularly his involvement with the Association of American Law Schools' Advisory Committee on Cooperation with Bench and Bar, the Board of Directors of the New York Legal Aid Society, the American Bar Association Committee on Legal Clinics, the Survey of the Economic Status of the Legal Profession in New Jersey, and the Columbia University Legal Aid program.
This series represents Llewellyn's interest in American Indians and his collaboration with anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel. Llewellyn and Hoebel co-authored a book, The Cheyenne Way in 1941. They also spent several summers together in New Mexico in the mid-1940s studying Pueblo culture. During this time, Llewellyn became actively involved in Pueblo affairs, acting as unofficial legal adviser, serving as counsel in some cases, and drafting codes for Santa Anna and Santa Domingo Pueblos. Subseries 1, 2, and 5 contain material pertaining to these activities. Subseries 3, 4, and 5 represent Llewellyn's membership in the Commission on the Rights, Liberties, and Responsibilities of the American Indian, and his other projects related to American Indians.
Subseries 1: Cheyenne
Subseries 2: Pueblos
Subseries 3: General
Subseries 4: Commission on Rights, Liberties, and Responsibilities of the American Indian
Subseries 5: Pueblo Field Notes and Indians, General
This series contains material related to Llewellyn's work drafting the Uniform Commercial Code. Materials are organized chronologically, and then by subject. Correspondence is filed separately at the end of the series.
Series XI contains lecture notes, fragments, mimeographed course materials, assignments, and examinations for Llewellyn's courses on contracts and commercial law, mainly from his time at Columbia University. The series is divided into subseries:
Subseries 1: Contracts and Casebook
Subseries 2: Manuscripts
Subseries 3: General
Series XII contains notes, syllabi, course materials, and examinations for Llewellyn's courses on Jurisprudence at Columbia University (co-taught with Edwin Patterson) and the University of Chicago. The Chicago materials are grouped first, followed by Columbia materials.
This series contains course materials (including annotated teaching copies), notes, and examinations for Llewellyn's "Elements" course at the University of Chicago. Materials are grouped by type.
This series contains course materials, exemplary cases, correspondence, assignments, and lectures for Llewellyn's course on legal argument at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. Materials are grouped by type.
Series XV contains course materials, lecture notes, and examinations for courses taught by Llewellyn at Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and the New School for Social Research beyond the scope of his usual core classes (commercial law, elements, jurisprudence, and legal argument). Course materials come first and are organized chronologically. This is followed by examinations, also arranged chronologically.
This series contains ungraded student papers and dissertations organized alphabetically by topic.
Series XVII contains material related to Llewellyn's interest in legal education which does not belong in any of the preceding sections. Llewellyn's writings on legal education are in Series I and II; his teaching materials concerning his own courses are in Series XI-XV; papers written for the American Association of Law Schools are in Series VIII, etc. Material in this series is predominately administrative (mainly correspondence and memoranda), representing Llewellyn's work on various committees. It is arranged by organization, with general material about legal education falling at the end.
Series XVIII contains Llewellyn's correspondence arranged alphabetically by correspondent or topic. Where there is substantial correspondence dealing with a particular subject, it is filed with the other materials relating to that subject; for example, correspondence concerning the Uniform Commercial Code is filed in Series X, and correspondence on Bramble Bush is in Series I. Of note is correspondence to and from Charles Beard, Mr. Justice Cardozo, A. L. Corbin, Jerome Frank, Mr. Justice Holmes, Roscoe Pound, and Samuel Williston.
This series contains personal ephemera including childhood material, a diary and notebook, photographs, drawings, clippings, datebooks, address books, notes, postcards, business cards, and passports. This type of material is grouped under the subseries "General." This is followed by a subseries containing family papers, including a substantial amount of correspondence to and from Llewellyn's father, William.
This series contains material related to Llewellyn's participation in conferences, as well as various activist activities such as a foray into New York Democratic politics in 1934, and a campaign to halt the destruction of churches in Wismar. Conference materials come first, followed by other activities.
This series contains material, mainly manuscripts and typescripts, pertaining to philosopher Dr. D. J. S. Teufelsdröckh.
This series contains a small amount of original material - photographs and correspondence - pertaining to Llewellyn's second wife, economics professor Emma Corstvet Llewellyn (1897-1984). This material is grouped in Subseries 1. Subseries 2 contains photocopies of material in the Emma Corstvet papers at the Bryn Mawr Library, mainly material pertaining to Karl Llewellyn.
Series XXIII contains records, audiotape reels, and videotape reels. The records and audiotapes appear to be recordings of Llewellyn's lectures and speeches. The subjects of the videotape reels are unidentified. This series does not include an access copy for the audio and video recordings. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting these items.
This series contains an oversize certificate and family photograph.
Material in this series is restricted for 80 years from date of record creation.