LDF’s archival records
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The LDF Archives consists of legal case files, legislative advocacy materials, reports and publications, correspondence, photographs, videos, administrative records, community organizing materials, social science research, and oral history interviews. The archives team is actively surveying, arranging, describing, and digitizing our collections. Note that the archival material available here does not contain the entire legal record for every case file represented. Some items are restricted due to privilege, confidentiality, and other sensitivities. Other items are not in LDF’s archives or are not yet digitized and ready to share. We hope you will revisit this website as we continuously add newly digitized records.
For additional materials, we suggest searching other legal and civil rights archives, such as the LDF Records, 1915-1968, NAACP Records, 1842-2019, and other collections listed on our FAQ page.
Want to search stories and articles written for this site? Use the site search.
Content Warning: Note that the nature of LDF’s work means the Archives Department collects materials that may be harmful or difficult to view. This includes the use of racist and ableist slurs, images depicting police brutality or racial violence, and other discriminatory content. LDF Archives provides access to these materials to preserve the historical record, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found within them.
Explore our collections
Brief Collection
Briefs and other court documents primarily from LDF cases, 1940s-present. These materials were collected by Donna Gloeckner, Director of Archives, over several decades, and made available to staff in the LDF Library.
Case Files
Records from the litigation department documenting LDF's education, voting rights, criminal justice, and economic justice cases, ca. 1960s-present. The collection is organized into series by case name. Types of materials include court records such as briefs, orders, transcripts, affidavits, and appendices; correspondence; and working files such as drafts, research, attorneys' notes, and statistical data.
LDF Oral History Collection
Interviews with former LDF attorneys, collaborators, and clients, conducted 2023-2024.
Legal Department General
Records from the litigation department that do not fit the scope of the Case Files collection. Includes individual attorney correspondence files covering multiple cases, and non-case files such as investigations that did not result in litigation.
Press Releases
Press statements written and released by LDF, and other documents collected and preserved by the predecessor to LDF’s Communications Department, 1953-1995 (bulk 1963-1971)
Photographs related to LDF’s work from the 1940s to the present (bulk 1970s to 1990s). Includes snapshots and professional photographs of events and protests; photos related to LDF cases; and portraits of LDF employees, board members, and other affiliates. Many items in the collection were created or collected by LDF for use in annual reports and other publications. Note: born-digital photographs are not yet included.