Robert Lee Hale papers, 1912-1958

Creator:

Hale, Robert L. (Robert Lee), 1884-1969

Abstract:

Professional correspondence, manuscripts, course materials, and printed works documenting the education and career of Robert Lee Hale (1884-1969), economist and Columbia University professor of law.

Extent:

13 linear feet (26 boxes)

Language:

English .

Scope and content:

Professional correspondence, manuscripts, course materials, and printed works documenting the education and career of Robert Lee Hale (1884-1969), economist and Columbia University professor of law. Prominent correspondents of Hale's include Louis Brandeis, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Harlan Fiske Stone, and William Howard Taft. Many of these letters deal with contemporary cases before the Supreme Court. There are also materials Hale used in classes he taught at Columbia University. His notes, manuscripts, and typescripts for many of his articles and papers, along with correspondence relating to them, are included in the collection. In addition, there are extensive mimeographed copies of Hale's unpublished works, including the five editions of his Legal Factors in Economic Society, which he used as a classroom text between 1935 and 1947. Finally, there are academic papers from Hale's years at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Biographical / historical:

Robert Lee Hale (1884-1969) was an economist and professor of law at Columbia University School of Law.

Robert Lee Hale was born in Albany, New York on March 9, 1884. He graduated from Harvard College in 1906 and Harvard Law School in 1909. He practiced law until 1913, then taught economics at Columbia University, where he completed a Ph.D. in economics in 1918.

Hale joined the faculty of the Columbia University School of Law in 1918 and became a full professor of law in 1935. His classes and published works focused on the intersection of economics and law. He approached legal scholarship through the framework of legal realism, which advocated applying the principles of scientific inquiry to jurisprudence as a means of coping with the inherent ambiguity of the law. Hale's best-known works are Valuation and Rate-Making: The Conflicting Theories of the Wisconsin Railroad Commission, 1905-17 (1918) and Freedom Through Law: Public Control of Private Governing Power (1952). Upon his retirement from full-time teaching in 1949, he was granted professor emeritus status.

Hale married Dorothea Keep on December 20, 1913. They had one child, Robert Lee Hale, Jr. Robert Lee Hale died in Stamford, Connecticut on September 1, 1969.

Acquisition information:

Source of acquisition--Hale, Robert Lee Hale, Jr. via Law Library. Method of acquisition--Gift and transfer; Date of acquisition--1976. Accession number--M-76.

Processing information:

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 06/--/89.

Materials were intellectually arranged into series at the same time the finding aid was converted to EAD. The biographical note was also expanded. Nothing in the collection was physically rearranged.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in three series. Subseries I.1 is arranged in alphabetical order by the correspondent's last name. The remaining materials in the collection are largely grouped by subject and are arranged in alphabetical order. Selected material cataloged; remainder listed and arranged.

Accruals:

Gift of Warren J. Samuels, 1990.

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

Materials with student grades in Box 23 are closed to researchers until 2026.

Terms of access:

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred citation:: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Robert Lee Hale Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.

Location of this collection:: Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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Contact:: rbml@library.columbia.edu

Collection