The Pritzker Legal Research Center boasts numerous rare books, manuscripts, and archival materials in its special collections. 

The rare book collection comprises more than 9,000 titles with strengths in Roman, canon, and customary law. Our holdings include several first editions of legal classics, multiple incunabula, and house a large collection of French coutumiers from the 16th to the 19th centuries. 

The PLRC maintains select archival collections that support the study of legal history and the history of Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, since its establishment in 1859 to the present day. 

We also have a rich repository of legal manuscripts. Of especial note are the Williams Collection, acquired in 1925 and featuring transcriptions of documents dating from the 1300s to the 1900s, and the Dean Hansell Collection, featuring hundreds of legal documents donated by the Honorable Dean Hansell (JD '77). 

All holdings are available to view by appointment only. Please contact law-sc@law.northwestern.edu or the Special Collections, Digitization, and Archival Services Librarian, Brittany Adams, for more information.