As part of the preparation for the Law School's centennial celebration, Professor Hagemann wrote a history of the first hundred years. When finished, the history will be the culmination of some work that Hagemann started about twenty years ago with remarks prepared for an observation, in the then new law building, of the 80th anniversary of the first classes of the Law School. The work continued with an article, co-authored by Professor John Davidson, on the diploma privilege in South Dakota. That was followed by the preparation of informal histories for inclusion in the dedication program for the new building and for self-studies done in connection with ABA accreditation visits. The most recent public work was Hagemann's 1999 Gunderson Lecture entitled "Legal Education in South Dakota: The Gunderson Years."

For the first sixty-five years of the history, Hagemann has drawn from and expanded upon the work done by Donald Meeks in his 1967 master's thesis. Thanks to a series of research assistants, Hagemann has added materials found in Coyote yearbooks and the Volante. He has also used materials kept in the University Archives and in the files of the Dean's Office at the Law School.

In addition to those sources, Hagemann has found help from unlikely quarters. Caitlin Collier ('87) wrote an unpublished paper, "Ladies of the Bar: Women Lawyers in South Dakota 1890-1940," that was invaluable in tracing the careers of early women graduates. A University employee provided an article from an old Sioux City Journal about a Vermillion barber shop that was a favored law student hangout in the early years. Thanks to the Internet, Hagemann made contact with Marshall McKusick's nephews, Blaine, of Wilmington, Delaware, and Marshall, of Iowa City, Iowa. He and his wife were guests of Blaine McKusick in the summer of 1999, and both Blaine and Marshall made valuable contributions to the history.

Although he has heard from a number of alumni with reminiscences of their student days, Hagemann asks others to get in touch with him if they have memories of teachers, courses, social activities or other events and stories from their student days. His mail address is USD School of Law, 414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069. His e-mail address is jhageman@usd.edu.

Or you can also submit information to the history project online:
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