The Brevier Legislative Reports and the Indiana General Assembly, 1858-1887

Abstract

In May of 2008, the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Library, in close collaboration with the Digital Library Program, applied for and received an LSTA grant from the Indiana State Library to digitize the Brevier Legislative Reports. These reports are a verbatim transcription of the Indiana General Assembly from 1858 to 1887, detailing the prosecution of the Civil War, along with debate over issues ranging from prohibition, women's suffrage, sheep-killing dogs, railroad train whistles and hanging Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the nearest "Sour Apple Tree." The set consists of almost 8,000 pages in 22 bibliographic volumes (two volumes were never published). In this talk we will discuss the process to digitize this set with the unique issues encountered when dealing with a legislative record including enacted and proposed legislation, governor's messages and vetoes, roll-calls and recorded votes, and supplemental material.