Gallery Talks
A series of noontime gallery talks (unless otherwise noted) are given by curators and specialists in the South Gallery, second floor, Thomas Jefferson Building for the duration of Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition.
November 12, 2014—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Curator Nathan Dorn, Law Library, discusses selected highlights from the exhibition
November 19, 2014—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Susan Reyburn, Publishing Office, discusses “Magna Carta in America: From World’s Fair to World War,” including its first visit to the Library of Congress
December 3, 2014—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Margaret Wood, Law Library, discusses King John and life in medieval England at the time of Magna Carta’s enactment.
December 10, 2014—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
James Martin, Law Library, presents “The Merryman Case and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.”
January 7, 2015—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Robert Brammer, Law Library, and Eiichi Ito, Asian Division, co-present on military authority and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
January 14, 2015—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Curator Nathan Dorn, Law Library, discusses selected highlights from the exhibition.
January 16, 2015—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Heather Wanser, Preservation Directorate, discusses the conservation of George Washington’s copy of the U.S. Constitution.
January 19, 2015—Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibition South Gallery, 2nd Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Chris Woods, Director, National Conservation Service (United Kingdom) discusses the care and conservation of Magna Cartas, including the Lincoln Cathedral 1215 manuscript copy on exhibition [PLEASE NOTE TALK BEGINS AT 10:00 A.M.]
Lectures and Symposium
July 8, 2014—Magna Carta Lecture Series: Trial By Jury—Magna Carta and Influence in Criminal Law and Legal Representation (external link). This program featured a distinguished panel of several local law professors.
August 20, 2014—Magna Carta Lecture Series: Magna Carta and Primary Source Documents featured a panel of Library staff. Nathan Dorn, Law Library rare book curator, Stephen Wesson, educational resources specialist, and Holly Krueger, head of the Library’s Paper Conservation Section, discussed how materials are prepared and selected for exhibitions and educational outreach curriculum.
September 16, 2104—Magna Carta Lecture Series: Magna Carta and the American Constitution (external link). The Law Library’s annual Constitution Day event featured Dr. Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. Professor Amar’s lecture addressed the grand project of American constitutionalism, past, present, and future, highlighting the ways in which the American constitutional experience has both drawn upon and broken with English constitutional precursors such as Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights of 1689.
December 9, 2014—Symposium: Conversations on the Enduring Legacy of the Great Charter. Scholars, historians and contemporary thinkers will discuss how Magna Carta’s political and legal traditions have carried into our current times. The afternoon program, “Contemporary Conversations on Magna Carta,” is open to the public and starts at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the Coolidge Auditorium on the ground level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building
Featured Speakers for the Afternoon Program
Opening remarks by Deputy Librarian of Congress Robert Dizard Jr.
“American Law and the Great Charter”
David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, conducts an interview with Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer
“Drafting Modern Constitutions”
Participants: A.E. Dick Howard, White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Virginia School of Law; Cornelius "Neil" Kerwin, president of American University; and David Fontana, Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School. Moderated by Jeffrey Rosen, president and chief executive officer, National Constitution Center
“Rule of Law in the Contemporary World: Civil Liberties and Surveillance”
Participants: Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Member, Committee on the Judiciary, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations; Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Member, Committee on the Judiciary, and Member, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Moderated by Orin Kerr, Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School
“Proportionality Under the Eighth Amendment”
Participants: Vicki Jackson, Thurgood Marshall Professorship of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; Craig Lerner, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, George Mason University Law School. Moderated by Carrie Johnson, justice correspondent, National Public Radio
“The Enduring Value of Magna Carta”
Participants: Jonathan Jacobs, director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics and chairman of the Department of Philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; William C. Hubbard, president, American Bar Association, and partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP. Moderated by Roberta Shaffer, retired Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress.
“An International Perspective”
Sir Robert Worcester, chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Commemoration Committee
Closing Remarks
David S. Mao, Law Librarian of Congress
January 14, 2015—Magna Carta Lecture Series: Magna Carta—Women in Medieval Europe in 1215. The Law Library welcomes Dr. Ruth M. Karras, chair of the History Department at the University of Minnesota, for this program. The program will take place at 1:00 p.m. in the Mumford Room (LM-649).
April 6, 2015—Magna Carta Lecture Series: Magna Carta from Runnymede to Washington—Old Laws, New Discoveries. Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia (UK). The lecture will take place at 1 p.m. in the Montpelier Room (LM-619).
