The microfilm edition of the Papers of Louis Dembitz Brandeis at the University of Louisville spans the years, 1810-1976, with the series arrangement essentially that established by Pearl Weiler Von Allmen in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Mrs. Von Allmen created eight topical series that conformed to the Justice's varied interests. Since there were no clear cut chronological divisions in this arrangement, the series overlap in time.
The eight topical series, their initialed designations, and inclusive dates are as follows: Nutter, McClennen & Fish (NMF), documents Brandeis as the "people's attorney," 1881 - 1927; Supreme Court (SC), incoming correspondence generated by the Court decisions, 1907 - 1938; Savings Bank Life Insurance (I), early plans and correspondence, plus progress reports, 1905 - 1906, 1929 - 1938; World War (WW), 1916 - 1920, 1926 and Government (G), 1916, 1924 - 1927, incoming correspondence that reflects the concern of others over national affairs while Brandeis was on the bench, inferring rather than explaining his influence over current events; Zionism/Palestine (Z/P), correspondence, reports, and financial statements for selected Zionist organizations, a topic that held Brandeis' attention for over three decades, 1905, 1913 - 1938; Miscellaneous (M), personal and family correspondence, including birthday greetings, 1810, 1844 - 1939; Scrapbooks, sixty-nine clipping books arranged by subject and closely documenting Brandeis' interest in Zionism, rail mergers, traffic efficiency, and the anti-trust movement. Two series were created for this microfilm publication: Addendum (A), material added to the papers, but never interfiled, including correspondence and reference material generated by his service on the arbitration board set up to settle the New York Garment Worker's strike, 1871 - 1941, 1956 - 1976; and Warren & Brandeis/Brandeis, Dunbar & Nutter (WB), legal files added to the collection in 1978.
Each microfilm reel opens with a brief introduction to the Brandeis Papers, a series description, and a reel note. The editors of this microfilm publication rewrote the introduction to the project for reels 145, and following, to reflect the acquisition in 1978 of the additional Brandeis files from Nutter, McClennen & Fish. The series description introduces the broad topical category into which the material on the reel falls, while the reel note indicates in narrative form the major correspondents, important subjects, and the inclusive dates of the items found on each reel. The reel note concludes with information that will assist the researcher in locating a manuscript in the Brandeis originals housed at the University of Louisville. Description for Scrapbooks (Series 8) includes a list of the volume titles--by topic--that were filmed, and the one for Addendum (Series 9) contains an outline of the diverse material that was created for this microfilm publication. The bound volumes in Series 10 (Warren & Brandeis/Brandeis, Dunbar & Nutter) are listed at the beginning of the reel on which they appear.
