Morris L. Cohen, Famed Law Librarian, Dies at 83
By Michael Kelley Dec 28, 2010Morris L. Cohen, one of the most influential law librarians of the late 20th century, died Saturday at his home in New Haven. He was 83.
The cause was leukemia, his wife, Gloria, told The New York Times.
Cohen was the director of the law library as well as a professor of law at Yale Law School from 1981 until his retirement in 1991, when he became professor emeritus of law and professorial lecturer in law.
Before joining Yale, he served as director of the law libraries at Harvard from 1971 to 1981, the University of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1971, and SUNY-Buffalo from 1961 to 1963.
"Morris Cohen directed four of the leading law libraries in the United States. He served here since 1981 and everyone experienced his talent, his scholarly range, his dedication, and his love," Yale Law School Dean Robert Post said in the obituary on the Yale Law School web site. "Morris was admired throughout the entire community of legal education. We share with many others a great loss to the world of legal scholarship. We will miss his humor, his kindness, his gentle wisdom, and his fascination with books and research."
Cohen made his mark on legal history with his six-volume Bibliography of Early American Law (1998). His published books also include: Supplement to Bibliography of Early American Law (2003); The Bench and Bar: Great Caricatures from Vanity Fair... (1997); and A Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States (1995).
"He brought together obscure legal, historical, political and cultural sources that enabled researchers to have the most cross-disciplinary, in-depth framework within which to study legal issues," Eric M. Freedman, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University, told the Times.
Cohen was a member of the Grolier Club in New York City, and he was a formative member of the American Association of Law Libraries and served as its president from 1970 to 1971, according to the Yale obituary. He was a two-time recipient of AALL's Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award.
Around 1960, Cohen also began collecting books for children about law. In 2009, he donated the collection of about 200 books and pamphlets ("Juvenile Jurisprudence Collection") to the Lillian Goldman Law Library.
"Morris Cohen is one of the great law librarians and book collectors of the twentieth century, and it is an honor to have this unique collection. I don't know of any other collection like it anywhere," Michael Widener, the rare book librarian at the law library, said at the time.
Among Cohen's favorite books in the collection was Juvenile Trials for Robbing Orchards, Telling Fibs, and Other Heinous Offenses.
Cohen said at the time that he donated his collection to the law library because of his affection for the library and its rare book collection.
"This library was the capstone of my fifty-year-long career in legal education at Columbia, Buffalo, Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale," Cohen said in a 2009 press release. "It is my hope that students here can study this unique collection and see how our law was, and still is, being disseminated and forming an important part of our children's civic education."
Cohen was born in New York City on Nov. 2, 1927 and was educated in the city's public schools. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1947, a law degree from Columbia in 1951, and an MLS from Pratt Institute in 1959.
He practiced law in New York City from 1951 to 1958, and he began his library career as an assistant librarian at Rutgers University Law School in 1958 and at Columbia Law School from 1959 to 1961.
"In addition to his many remarkable achievements, Morris had a kind and gentle spirit, loved his teaching and engaging with students, and displayed a great sense of puckish humor," Blair Kauffman, law librarian at Yale Law School said. "He was curious about everything and everybody and was a delightful meal companion who always encouraged sharing a dessert. He loved film and live theater and above all, his wife Gloria and family. We'll all miss him."
Besides his wife, Cohen is survived by his son, Daniel; a daughter, Havi Hoffman; and a granddaughter.
Cohen's family has asked that memorial contributions be made to Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel (BEKI), 85 Harrison St., New Haven, CT 06515; the American Jewish World Service, 45 W. 36th St., 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018-7904; or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 300 Research Pkwy., Suite 310, Meriden, CT 06450.
