A Home for Our Legal Technology Relics

In a conversation the other day we touched on the differences between how (or if) electronic legal research was taught when I was in law school, and then a few years later when I first instructed legal research and writing. We recalled the equipment, manuals, and peripherals the publisher(s) sent us, and a perception of their complexity.

Serendipitously, the same day, I noticed Sarah Glassmeyer of CALI wrote on LLRX about an idea to collect those old things and more.

Note: It’s not that she’s a hoarder. Sarah happens to want to collect and preserve “our shared legal technology history:”

Inspired partly by my anthropological background and partly by the work of Jason Scott who preserves computer history with the Internet Archive, I would like to start collecting our shared legal technology history before it all ends up in dumpsters. I do not have a concrete plan right now. It might just end up that I send it to Jason and have it end up in the IA when they have scanner time (which wouldn’t be a terrible thing.) I can also see having a technology museum type thing that I bring out at CALIcons. Inspired partly by my anthropological background and partly by the work of Jason Scott who preserves computer history with the Internet Archive, I would like to start collecting our shared legal technology history before it all ends up in dumpsters. I do not have a concrete plan right now. It might just end up that I send it to Jason and have it end up in the IA when they have scanner time (which wouldn’t be a terrible thing.) I can also see having a technology museum type thing that I bring out at CALIcons.

Though I have said good-bye to most of my old manuals, I do believe I saved my first-ever set of electronic research materials and some expired research CDs-cum-coasters, for archival/nostalgic reasons. (See above re “not a hoarder.”)

I now know where they can go to retire and be cared for, Sarah can expect a box from me soon, and my garage will be a little happier too.