Uncovering the Heart of Brandeis: A New Book from Law Librarian Peter Scott Campbell

Democracy and Social Justice: Uncollected Writings of Louis Brandeis brings together newly discovered essays, speeches, and personal reflections from the legendary justice

Brandeis School of Law Technical Services Librarian Peter Scott Campbell has published a new book that adds dimension and humanity to the school’s iconic namesake. Democracy and Social Justice: Uncollected Writings of Louis Brandeis, available now from Carolina Academic Press, features speeches, articles, and a previously overlooked memoir that shed new light on the man known as “the People’s Lawyer.”

Campbell, who holds both a B.A. and M.L.S. from Indiana University, has worked at Brandeis School of Law since 1994. He oversees the law library’s technical services and manages its collection of Justice Brandeis’s papers. He has presented on the Brandeis collection to faculty, students, alumni, and visiting dignitaries, including Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. This latest project builds on his earlier work as editor of The Quotable Brandeis (2017), which first inspired the deep research that uncovered many of the materials included in the new book.

Campbell’s research led him to Boston in 2016, where he followed up on archival leads. “A Brandeis researcher gave me a detailed list of items held in the archives at Brandeis University, and that is how I found Brandeis's memoir there that [had] been missed by other Brandeis scholars,” he explains. “I also had found some dates where Brandeis may have given some speeches and searching those dates in Boston newspapers uncovered a couple previously unknown speeches and articles.”

The memoir, previously unpublished, became the emotional centerpiece of the collection. “It was the most personal piece of writing by Brandeis that I have read,” Campbell says. “The memoir was touching and funny in places, but I found the part where he described losing many of his Boston friends due to his public service work to be very moving.”

While the tone of the book reflects the style of its time, the historical content remains deeply relevant. “The existence of trusts and monopolies remains as big a threat as they were in Brandeis's time, which is distressing since so much progress had been made in reducing them,” he notes. “Large concentrations of power held by corporations threaten the freedom and economic bargaining power of American workers. Brandeis's articles on unions are a potent reminder of their importance and what they accomplished for working Americans.”

The collection also includes writings on women’s suffrage and immigration, which, Campbell points out, “speak to the importance of civic participation in a democracy.”

When asked what he hopes readers, particularly law students, take away from the book, Campbell is clear: “I would hope that any law student reading this book would learn how important lawyers are to improving life in a democracy and that they will be challenged to follow Brandeis's example.”

Much of the content in Democracy and Social Justice reinforces ideas Brandeis is already known for, but Campbell believes the memoir may shift readers’ perceptions: “Brandeis has this reputation of being a cold and lifeless individual, but the memoir shows that he was a warm and caring person with a quiet sense of humor.”

Democracy and Social Justice is available now from Carolina Academic Press: Democracy and Social Justice: Uncollected Writings of Louis Brandeis