This month in Harvard history

January 16, 2003 1 min read

Ca. January 1956 – West Publishing Co. (St. Paul, Minn.) presents the Law School with one of two known copies of “The Capitall Lawes of New-England, as they stand now in force in the Common-Wealth.” A 1643 reprint of the lost 1642 original produced in Harvard Yard, the document constitutes the earliest known printing of these laws. The publisher makes the gift “as a mark of respect for the contribution which Harvard Law School has made to legal education.The donation inspires an exhibition in Langdell Library’s Treasure Room featuring original documents related to the “Capitall Lawes” and selected statutes enacted during the more than three centuries through 1951.
Jan. 5, 1956 – By order of University Library Director Paul H. Buck, Lamont Library begins operating on an extended schedule: until midnight, Monday through Friday; and from 2 to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday hours remain unchanged.
January 1957 – The Alumni Records Office moves out of Widener Library and into 13 Holyoke St.
Jan. 30, 1958 – About 200 scholars convene in Cambridge to mark the 10th anniversary of the Russian Research Center (now the Davis Center for Russian Studies).– From the Harvard Historical Calendar, a database compiled by Marvin Hightower

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