Wilfred Feinberg Papers, 1936-2011, bulk 1960-2011

Series VII: Articles and Speeches, 1961-2011

This series includes Feinberg's articles and speeches, as well as correspondence and research material relating to them. In addition to correspondence, offprints, reprints, and typescripts, materials include clippings, drafts, and notes. The files of research material collect ideas for potential future topics.

Feinberg was a prolific writer, particularly in the 1980s, and some of the topics he wrote on frequently include diversity jurisdiction, senior judges, and the history of the Second Circuit. He was also a vigorous opponent of the National Court of Appeals, a proposed restructuring of the federal judiciary that caused substantial controversy in the 1970s. Feinberg's full publications list can be found in his CV in Subseries IX.1.

Feinberg maintained a "Jokes and Parodies" folder where he would file countless lawyer jokes clipped from Reader's Digest or sent to him by colleagues. Also in the "Jokes and Parodies" file are the song parodies that Feinberg wrote for anniversaries, birthdays, and retirements.

Although some of Feinberg's speeches were subsequently published in law journals and magazines, this series is particularly useful for its full record of fifty years of speech transcripts. Maintaining Feinberg's original order, the transcripts of both eulogies and speeches are arranged reverse-chronologically and include yearly indexes to speeches with locations and occasions. Many of the typescripts were Feinberg's podium copy and include his notes on delivery.