23 years ago, the Chicago Association of Law Libraries established the AGNES AND HARVEY T. REID AWARD to honor individuals who give outstanding service to CALL or who make an outstanding contribution to law librarianship. The award was named for two people who were long-time friends and generous supporters of both CALL and the American Association of Law Libraries.

Harvey Reid was a Canadian lawyer who ended up in the U.S. and had a long and successful career with West Publishing. He was instrumental in the publication of the first U.S. Code in 1926, which West also published as the USCA. Harvey served West as Editor-in-chief, President, and Chairman of the Board, until his retirement in 1974.

His wife Agnes (known as Christy) worked here in Illinois for the legal publisher Burdette-Smith, which was a subsidiary of West, and where she became friends with her co-worker Babe Russo, who went on to become the first paid staff member at AALL Headquarters here in Chicago. So, although the Reids weren’t law librarians themselves, they had strong ties to the law library world.