Named for Judge Frederick W. Brune (1894-1972), the Brune Room houses the Thurgood Marshall Law Library's collection of rare legal books from all eras of American history. The Brune Room's primary resource, the Donaldson Collection, consists of legal literature from the colonial period through the 19th century. The Donaldson Collection was donated by Judge Brune to honor his uncle and mentor John J. Donaldson. More about the history of the Brune Room

Important works in the rare book collection include copies of Lilly's Practical Register (1710); Brownlow's Declarations and Pleadings (1653); A Treatise of Tenures (1794); Law of the Seas (1818); and Hall's Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace in the State of Maryland (1815).

The rare book collection also holds a complete collection of early Maryland statutes and a full set of The Archives of Maryland; material on the history of the University of Maryland School of Law including course catalogs, yearbooks, grade books from the 19th century; a near complete run of the Raven, and commencement addresses; and a collection of material written by the Law School's founder David Hoffman.

Through additional gifts and the transfer of pre-1830 American imprints from the general collection, the Library's special collections has grown to include over one thousand items.

The Brune Room also houses the African Americans in the Law Special Collection. This collection seeks to document the development and growth of the African American legal community in Maryland from 1877 until 1977. The Library has acquired several manuscript collections and will continue to acquire, catalog and arrange original materials, both personal and professional, that reflect the unique challenges and exceptional contributions of Maryland's African American legal practitioners.

Complete access to all of the unique resources of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library may be found by searching the Catalog. The Special Collections of the Brune Room are available to researchers Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Because some material is stored in closed stacks, it is best to call in advance of your visit to determine availability of the material.

Origins of the Legal Community in Maryland: A Brief Bibliography

Monographs

1. Ashley C. Ellefson, The County Courts and the Provincial Court in Maryland, 1733-1763 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1990).
2. Marilyn Geiger, The Administration of Justice in Colonial Maryland, 1632-1689( New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987).
3. Aubrey C. Land,The Dulanys of Maryland; A Biographical Study of Daniel Dulany, the elder (1685-1753) and Daniel Dulany, the younger (1722- 1797) (Millwood, N.Y.: KTO Press, 1981).
4. Aubrey C. Land, et al., Law, Society, and Politics in Early Maryland. "Proceedings of the First Conference on Maryland History, June 14-15, 1974" (Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977).
5. Arthur Pierce Middleton Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press and the Maryland State Archives, 1984).
6. David R. Owen, Michael C. Tolley, Courts of Admiralty in Colonial America: The Maryland Experience, 1634-1776 (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, "in association with the Maryland Historical Society", 1995).
7. Charles G. Steffen, From Gentlemen to Townsmen: The Gentry of Baltimore County, Maryland 1660 - 1776( Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993).

Journal Articles

1. Maxwell Bloomfield, David Hoffman and the Shaping of a Republican Legal Culture, 38 Md. L. Rev. 673, (1979).
   
2. Paul D. Carrington, The Revolutionary Idea of University Legal Education, 31 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 527, (1990).
3. John E. Douglass, Between Pettifoggers and Professionals:Pleaders and Practitioners and the Beginnings of the Legal Profession in Colonial Maryland, 1634-1731, 39 Am. J. Legal Hist. 359, (1995).
   
4. John F. Hart, The Maryland Mill Act, 1669-1766: Economic Policy and Confiscatory Redistribution of Private Property, 39 Am. J. Leg. Hist. 1, (1995).
   
5. Dennis R. Nolan, The Effect of the Revolution on the Bar: The Maryland Experience, 62 Va. L. R. 969, (1976)
   
6. Jeffrey K. Sawyer, Distrust of the Legal Establishment in Perspective: Maryland During the Early National Years, 2 Ga. J. S. Leg. Hist. 1, (1993).
   
7. Thomas L. Shaffer, David Hoffman's Law School Lectures, 1822-1833, 32 J. Legal Educ. 127, (1982).
   

The Thurgood Marshall Law Library also has additional history resources online.