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Guide to the David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers
MSS-2008-05-09  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Project Information
  • Processing History
  • Biographical History
  • Scope and Content
  • Arrangement
  • Subject Headings

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers
    Dates: 1968-1978
    Collection number: MSS-2008-05-09
    Creator: Langum, David J., 1940-
    Collection Size: 6 boxes (6.75 linear feet)
    Repository: San José State University. Library.
    San José, California 95192-0028
    Abstract: The David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, 1968-1978 document Langum's ten-year tenure in San José, California as a practicing attorney and resident. The papers consist of complete legal files and a sampling of other legal cases. Langum is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and prolific writer. He is also the founder of the Langum Charitable Trust, which awards travel grants to researchers and gives out annual awards for historical fiction and legal histories.
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

    Access

    The collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

    Preferred Citation

    David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, MSS-2008-05-09, San José State University, Special Collections & Archives.

    Project Information

    This finding aid was created as part of the Survey and Cataloging Project, a two-year San José State University Library grant project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project began in 2008. The Project Director is Danelle Moon. The Project Archivist is Erin Louthen.

    Processing History

    Collection processed by Trista Raezer. Finding aid EAD encoded by Mary Ellen Petrich. Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen.

    Biographical History

    David J. Langum, Sr. is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and writer. Born in 1940 to John K. and Virginia Langum, he attended Dartmouth College for a degree in history, and Stanford University for his law degree. He practiced law in San José from 1968 to 1978 as a partner of Christenson, Hedemark, Langum & O'Keefe, and completed a master's degree in history at San José State University in 1976. Langum continued his education at the University of Michigan for a LL.M. and S.J.D. in legal history.
    Langum founded the Langum Charitable Trust in 2001 in order to promote the writing of informative historical literature for the general public. His trust proffers two awards each year to the best American historical fiction and best American law history book. The trust also awards grants to researchers wishing to research the Langum Papers and the de Mattos Papers at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
    Over the years Langum has also served as the President of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Alabama, President of the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library, and professor at the Nevada School of Law, Detroit College of Law, Lincoln University School of Law in San José, the San Francisco Law School and Samford University in Alabama.
    Langum's main research and teaching interests include evidence, property, legal history, history of the American West, law and morality in America, and 19th- and 20th-century American legal history. He has authored six books, over thirty-eight book reviews, and many journal articles.

    Scope and Content

    The David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, 1968-1978, document Langum's legal practice in San José, California. The papers consist of complete legal files and a sampling of other legal cases, including depositions, interrogatories, and litigation. Types of court cases represented in the papers are personal injury, domestic relations, business and real property, bankruptcy and criminal cases. Langum is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and prolific writer. He is also the founder of the Langum Charitable Trust, which awards travel grants to researchers and gives out annual awards for historical fiction and legal histories.

    Arrangement

    This collection is arranged into one series: Series I. Legal Papers, 1968-1978.

    Subject Headings

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    Langum, David J., Sr. -- Correspondence
    Lawyers -- California -- San Jose
    Legal documents -- California -- San Jose
    Domestic relations -- California -- San Jose -- Cases
    Real property -- California -- San Jose -- Cases
    Bankruptcy -- California -- San Jose -- Cases