Looking Back – Edgar Allan Poe

Photo from the Library of Congress' Photos, Prints, Drawings Collection

Today we celebrate the 208th anniversary of the birth of the “Master of Macabre,” Edgar Allan Poe. Born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, and orphaned at the age of three, Poe led a life of relative poverty, unhappiness, and solitude. Yet, he managed to eke out a living as a writer, publishing short stories and becoming a relentless critic of some of the most celebrated writers of his time, including one Rufus Griswold. Although he realized some literary renown with his short stories and book reviews, Poe achieved perhaps his greatest success with his poem The Raven, first published in 1845.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Poe should indeed be pleased that his most celebrated of works has had such a profound effect on not only those in the literary world, but also those in the realm of jurisprudence. Judge A. Jay Cristol from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida was inspired to draft his own poetic version of The Raven as his opinion in the case of In re Love, 61 B.R. 558 (1986). (This case was also highlighted in one of a series of Ex Libris Juris blog posts dedicated to the Poetry of the Bench & Bar during National Poetry Month in April 2016).

Sadly, four years after The Raven was published, Poe died on October 7, 1849, in Baltimore. Interestingly, his relationship with the law did not end with his death. After his passing, Poe became the victim of a libelous obituary written by none other than Rufus Griswold, one of the writers most severely critiqued by Poe. However, Poe had the last laugh. Despite all of the defamatory statements contained in the obituary and a subsequent memoir, Poe’s legend and popularity only flourished.

For more information about Edgar Allan Poe, visit the website of the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia.

December 29, 1845: Texas Achieves Statehood

On this day in 1845, Texas became the 28th state of the United States of America. Texan voters supported annexation as early as 1836, but opposition in the U.S. was strong. After years of heavy debate, Texas finally achieved statehood.

The Harris County Law Library has been recognizing this important date all month long with an exhibit in the Law Library lobby. A new exhibit will take its place at the start of the new year, but many of the featured items can be viewed online, including sections from Unites States Statutes at Large that document the annexation, as well as an 1844 broadside of the annexation debate, a political cartoon depicting the marriage of Texas and the United States, and an early Texas map. For more information about the events leading up to annexation and eventual statehood, please visit the Texas Almanac online.

Documenting Texas History

Texas became a state on December 29, 1845. The Harris County Law Library is recognizing this anniversary with an exhibit, Texas Achieves Statehood. The exhibit will be on display through the end of this month. Visit the Law Library’s lobby to view the display. It features sections from Unites States Statutes at Large that document the annexation, along with an 1844 broadside of the annexation debate, a political cartoon depicting the marriage of Texas and the United States, and an early Texas map.

To satisfy your taste for more Texas history, you can also visit the Library of Congress website. Here, you can view a collection of panoramic, historical maps from cities throughout the United States, including many cities in Texas. 

Immigration Law and Internment Camps in Texas - a digital exhibit

As part of this year's Gulf Coast Reads program, the Law Library will hold a three-part lecture series during the month of October and display exhibits focusing on the legal aspects of this year's featured work - The Train to Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell. Exhibits include statues and case law discussed in the book as well as proclamations made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that made the family internment camp at Crystal City, Texas possible. As an added bit of historical interest, the exhibited volumes of U.S. Statutes at Large containing FDR's proclamation have been in the Law Library's collection since the early 1940s, which makes them contemporary artifacts from the World War II legal environment discussed in The Train to Crystal City.

Visit our downtown Houston location to see the exhibits in person or check out our digital exhibit now available on our website.

Announcing Upcoming Lecture Series

Footage from the Alien Enemy Detention Facility at Crystal City, Texas. This film was distributed by the U.S. Dept. of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1945. It is now part of the U.S. National Archives (ID# 13206).

The Harris County Law Library is happy to announce a three-part lecture series hosted in collaboration with Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan titled Immigration Law and Internment Camps in Texas: Legal Perspectives on The Train To Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell. An hour-long lecture will be offered at noon on October 4, October 11, and October 18 at the Law Library's downtown Houston location. Lunch is provided and attorneys can earned 3.0 hours of CLE credit and 1.0 hour of ethics credit in Texas. For more information and to RSVP, visit the event page on the Harris County Attorney Office website.

At each event, distinguished speakers will discuss legal aspects of this year's Gulf Coast Reads featured title The Train to Crystal City. The book presents the story of internees of German and Japanese descent who found themselves at the family internment camp in Crystal City, Texas during World War II. The stories are told on a personal level with references to the federal legal mechanisms that affected each internee, many of whom were U.S. citizens, and the international politics that led to many internees being repatriated to their ancestral nations in exchange for American prisoners of war. With a story line that takes place in the Lone Star State and an author who is a native of the Texas gulf coast, this book is a natural candidate for the Gulf Coast Reads program, through which a book with local ties is read at libraries and book clubs through the month of October. Visit the Gulf Coast Reads website for more on this year's read and archives of past featured titles.