Helen C. Newman, 1904 – 65

AALL Spectrum July/August Issue

Hall of Fame Pioneer
Hall of Fame Induction: 2010

Significant AALL Service

  • Chair, Committee on Expansion Plan, 1933–34
  • Chair, Committee on Cooperation with Association of American Law Schools, 1933–35
  • AALL Treasurer, 1934–35
  • AALL Executive Secretary, 1935–45 (first AALL paid staff member)
  • Editor, Law Library Journal, 1934–42
  • AALL Incorporator, District of Columbia, September 23, 1935 (with Richard C. DeWolf and Mary Alice Matthews)
  • Charter Member, Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C., April 18, 1939 (presided over organizational meeting)
  • President, Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C., 1943–45
  • AALL Executive Board, 1946–47
  • AALL President-Elect, 1948–49
  • AALL President, 1949–50
  • Chair, Nominating Committee, 1951–52
  • Chair, Committee on Golden Jubilee Issue of the Law Library Journal, 1953–56

Professional Honors and Awards

  • Alumni Achievement Award, George Washington University, 1947
  • Special Citation for Outstanding Contributions and Dedicated Service to the Profession and to AALL, 1959
  • AALL Hall of Fame, Inaugural Class Inductee (Pioneer), 2010

Selected Publications by the Inductee

  • “William Cranch, Judge, Law School Professor, and Reporter,” Law Library Journal 26 (1933: 74–91.
  • “A Librarian’s Approach to Problems in the Smaller Law School Libraries,” Law Library Journal 32 (1939): 78–94.
  • “A Decade of Progress Under the Roalfe Plan, 1931–1941,” Law Library Journal 35 (1942): 419–23.
  • A Law Librarian Talks Shop with the Lawyer Veterans: A Discussion of Late Law Books with Special Emphasis on the War Years, 1939–1945, Together with a Subject Guide. St. Paul: West, 1946.
  • “History of the American Association of Law Libraries: The Roalfe Plan and the Middle Years, 1930–1942,” Law Library Journal 49 (1956): 105–17.

Selected Publications about the Inductee

  • Bernita J. Davies, “Who’s Who In Law Libraries: Helen Newman, Associate Librarian, Supreme Court of the United States,” Law Library Journal 39 (1946): 17–19.
  • Bernita J. Davies, “In Memory of Helen,” Law Library Journal 59 (1966): 154–61.
  • Earl Warren, “Helen in the Court,” Law Library Journal 59 (1966): 162–63.
  • Chesterfield Oppenheim, “Helen in Academe,” Law Library Journal 59 (1966): 164–65.
  • Meade, Jennie. “Helen Newman: GW’s Trailblazing Law Librarian.” A Legal Miscellanea 8 (Autumn 2011): 6–10.

Professional Positions

  • Librarian, George Washington University Law School, 1927–42
  • Associate Librarian, Supreme Court of the United States, 1942–47
  • Librarian, Supreme Court of the United States, 1947–65

Education

  • LL.B., George Washington University, 1925
  • LL.M., George Washington University, 1927

Selected Professional Activities & Achievements (outside AALL)

  • Admitted to practice of law, District of Columbia, 1926
  • Member, AALS Library Problems Round Table Council, 1940, 1942
  • Member, Board of Trustees, George Washington University, 1950–59
  • Member, American Law Institute