Gale Releases Digital Archive from ACLU

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 01/17/17

Reference company Gale has released a digital archive of papers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The content in the archive covers the years between 1912 and 1990, with a focus on civil rights, race, children and women's rights, freedom of speech and due process.

The collection includes case files, meeting minutes, legal briefs, research files and files of all staff members, as well as correspondence and materials from organizations affiliated with the ACLU (including its adversaries) and newspaper clippings.

The ACLU is one of the preeminent civil liberties organizations in the United States. It uses litigation, lobbying and public education to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The union has been at the forefront of American legal battles tied to the "Red Scare,"
the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, events related to the Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement and gay rights, among many others.

"The Making of Modern Law" archive, as it's titled, contains 2 million pages held at the Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University.

The archive is available on the Gale Primary Sources platform, making it cross-searchable with other collections in the same platform. Tools allow researchers and students to perform textual analysis and generate visual displays of information to help uncover new insights and find relationships between themes, events and individuals.

"The papers of the ACLU are among the most-visited and most-requested of library collections," said Phil Faust, vice president for academic products at Gale. "The launch of this archive highlights Gale's extensive effort to bring to the forefront material crucial for the study of civil liberties and identity. We're living in exceptional times and the study of these topics has never been more relevant."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • cloud icon with a padlock overlay set against a digital background featuring binary code and network nodes

    Cloud Security Auditing Tool Uses AI to Validate Providers' Security Assessments

    The Cloud Security Alliance has unveiled a new artificial intelligence-powered system that automates the validation of cloud service providers' (CSPs) security assessments, aiming to improve transparency and trust across the cloud computing landscape.

  • stack of gold coins disintegrates into digital particles against a dark circuit-board background with glowing AI imagery

    Report: Most Organizations See No Business Return on Gen AI Investments

    Despite $30-40 billion in enterprise spending on generative AI, 95% of organizations are seeing no business return, according to a recent report out of the MIT Media Lab.

  • stylized illustration of a desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone all displaying an orange AI icon

    Survey: AI Shifting from Cloud to PCs

    A recent Intel-commissioned report identifies a significant shift in AI adoption, moving away from the cloud and closer to the user. Businesses are increasingly turning to the specialized hardware of AI PCs, the survey found, recognizing their potential not just for productivity gains, but for revolutionizing IT efficiency, fortifying data security, and delivering a compelling return on investment by bringing AI capabilities directly to the edge.

  • student holding a smartphone with thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons, surrounded by abstract digital media symbols and interface elements

    Teaching Media Literacy? Start by Teaching Decision-Making

    Decision-making is a skill that must be developed — not assumed. Students need opportunities to learn the tools and practices of effective decision-making so they can apply what they know in meaningful, real-world contexts.