Special Collections Research Center

Leopold and Loeb in the Bernard Glueck, Sr. Papers

Bernard Glueck, Sr. (1884-1972), an authority on psychoanalysis and forensic psychiatry, was an expert witness at the infamous 1924 trial Illinois v. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were partners in the murder of a 14-year-old neighborhood boy, Bobby Franks, on May 24, 1924. Both from prominent Kenwood families and students at the University of Chicago (Leopold 1920-1924 and Loeb 1919-1924), they planned an intellectual exercise, "the perfect murder." They were discovered eight days later. With Clarence Darrow working for the defense, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Bernard Glueck, Sr. Papers span 1910-1971 and include manuscripts, correspondence, publications, and award certificates.

Of note are manuscripts of Glueck's reports on Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, his report on a study of psychiatric admissions at Sing Sing Prison in 1918, and autobiographical writings from circa 1964-1965.

Related collections include the Nathan F. Leopold Collection and the Clarence Darrow Papers.

DOC Films Records

[DOC Films members projecting a film, undated, from the Archival Photo Files]

The Documentary Film  Group, a student organization at the University of Chicago, was founded in 1941 by students living at International House in order to present "realistic films of artistic merit" to the Quadrangles. Robert E. Lewis, Mary Woolsey Lewis, and John S. Atlee were the primary organizers. Wishing to see films they had read about, they found it necessary to organize an audience large enough to pay film rental and other costs.

Continuously active since 1941, in spite of inevitable frequent turnover in membership, the Group has brought an impressive array of films-documentary, fiction, and experimental-to the Quadrangles and has engaged in a great diversity of film-related activities.

The Documentary Film Group records contain posters, programs, proposal, articles, a history of the organization, and memorabilia.

And, of course, DOC Films is still active - visit them online!

Catesby's "Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands..."

 

English Naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) traveled to Virginia in 1712, explored Carolina and the West Indies, and returned to England in 1719. He brought with him a superb collection of dried plants from North America, which earned him attention and admiration from fellow naturalists.

Catesby made a second trip to America in 1722, where he began drawing the reptiles, fish, birds, and plants that would be included in his landmark work, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. The book was first published in parts between 1729 and 1747.

These plate details (green lizard and painted finch) are from the second edition of the work, which appeared in 1754. The second edition includes 200 colored plates.

As with our other materials, the University of Chicago copy can be viewed in our reading room. University of Chicago faculty, staff, and students can also use the volume electronically through the subscription database Early Encounters in North America.

C: A Journal of Poetry

Through a recent acquisition the Special Collections Research Center now has issues 1-11 and 13 of C: A Journal of Poetry (12 was never issued), as well as C Comics 1 and 2, the only issues ever published. [Visit the catalog record now!]

Ted Berrigan and Lorenzo Gude published the first issue of C: A Journal of Poetry in New York in May 1963. The magazine was mimeographed on legal-sized paper and side-stapled.

C: A Journal of Poetry was an important early outlet for poetry by the so-called Second Generation New York School, poets like Berrigan, Joe Brainard, and Ron Padgett. But Berrigan also published the previous New York generation – John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, Frank O’Hara – and non-New York writers like William S. Burroughs.