Scope and Content Note
The correspondence of Joseph Story (1779-1845) spans the years 1807-1843. The collection consists of bound volumes of personal, legal, and professional correspondence regarding cases at law, questions before the Supreme Court, the teaching of history and law, and the development of Harvard Law School. Also included are invitations, letters of introduction, and letters of Jared Sparks and Bushrod Washington relating to Sparks's edition of the writings of George Washington. Correspondents include Ezekiel Bacon, Francis Lieber, Timothy Pickering, William Hickling Prescott, Asher Robbins, Charles Sumner, and Daniel Webster. A small addition consists of a letter from Story to Daniel Webster in 1826 regarding current political and judicial issues, including Henry Clay’s duel with John Randolph of Roanoke, and a letter of 1836 to John Davis relating to the Charles River Bridge case and various aspects of constitutional law.