LibGuides: New York City Criminal Courts: Historical Research: Selected Books and Articles

Bibliography of works related to our Trial Transcript Collection

Books and Articles resulting from research in our Criminal Trial Transcripts of New York County Collection :

Arons, Ron (2008) The Jews of Sing Sing: Gotham Gangsters and Gonuvim. Fort Lee: Barricade Books. Stacks and Special Collections Room - HV6194 .J4 A76 2008

Bromberg W and Thompson C. (1937) “The relation of psychosis, mental defect and personality types to crime.” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology; 28/1 pp. 70-89.

Presents the findings resulting from the study of 9958 prisoners, conducted for four years in the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions.

Chauncey, G. (1994) Gay New York: gender, urban culture, and the making of the gay male world, 1890-1940. New York: Basic Books. Reserve - HQ 76.2 .U52 N53 1994. & Available as an e-book

Used sodomy cases related to bath houses in the Court of General Sessions Transcripts at John Jay as a resource for this book.

Donovan, B. (2005), “Gender Inequality and Criminal Seduction: Prosecuting Sexual Coercion in the Early-20th Century.” Law and Social Inquiry, 30 pp. 61–88.

Analyzes narratives of sexual consent and coercion in 15 criminal seduction cases as recorded in transcripts in the John Jay Collection.

Donovan, B. (2006) White slave crusades : race, gender, and anti-vice activism, 1887-1917. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Stacks ; HQ144 .D57 2006 (also available as an e-book)

Evens, E. (2020). Plainclothes Policewomen on the Trail: NYPD Undercover Investigations of Abortionists and Queer Women, 1913–1926. Modern American History, 1-18. doi:10.1017/mah.2020.22

Utilized several abortion trial transcripts in our collection as well as related Manhattan DA indictment files at the Municipal Archives, NYPD Annual reports and other primary and secondary sources to present an early history of investigative roles for policewomen in the NYPD.

Faber, E.and Rowland, E. (1989). Trial transcripts of the County of New York, 1883-1927: a historical introduction with an index to the microfilm collection. New York: John Jay Press. available as an ebook

Arsenic and clam chowder: murder in gilded age New York. Albany : Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press, 2010. Stacks - HV6534 .N5 L58 2010

Detailed account of a murder for inheritance in a famous NYC family, and the trial (our trial number 70).

Messinger, Emanuel and Apfelberg, Benjamin C. (1961) “A Quarter Century of Court Psychiatry.” Crime & Delinquency, 7/4, pp. 343-362

This study surveys a quarter of a century of continuous operation of the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions of New York County

Mcillwain, Jeffrey Scott (March 1997) “From tong war to organized crime: Revising the historical perception of violence in Chinatown.” Justice Quarterly 14, 1 pp. 25-52.

Used the Court of General Sessions, New York County transcripts amongst other primary and secondary documents in this study.

Murphy, Cait (2010) Scoundrels in law: the trials of Howe & Hummel, lawyers to the gangsters, cops, starlets, and rakes who made the Gilded Age. New York, N.Y.: Smithsonian Books Stacks-KF355 .N4 M87 2010

This law firm regularly and famously represented defendants in the Court of General Sessions and many other NYC Courts. Many of our transcripts were used as reference for this book.

Robertson, S. (2002), “Making Right a Girl's Ruin: Working-Class Legal Cultures and Forced Marriage in New York City, 1890–1950.” Journal of American Studies 36: pp. 199-230

___________(2002) Age of Consent Law and the Making of Modern Childhood in New York City, 1886—1921 Journal of Social History 35.4 pp. 781-798.

Used several transcripts in the John Jay Collection as material for these and forthcoming studies.

Towne, A. (July,1922) "Young Girl Marriages in Criminal and Juvenile Courts,"

Journal of Social Hygiene, 8 pp. 297-306.

Refers to certain cases heard in the Court of General Sessions and other Courts.

Underwood, Richard H. Gaslight lawyers: criminal trials & exploits in gilded age New York. Lexington, Kentucky : Shadelandhouse Modern Press, LLC Stacks - KF355.N4 U53 2017

Used several of our criminal trial transcripts amongst other library resources researching this book, which is dedicated to Lloyd Sealy Librarians.

Historical Studies

Historical Studies of Criminal Defendants, Lawyers, Trials and Courts in NYC

Bromberg W and Thompson C. (1937) “The relation of psychosis, mental defect and personality types to crime.” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology; 28/1 pp. 70-89.

Presents the findings resulting from the study of 9958 prisoners, conducted for four years in the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions.

Messinger, Emanuel and Apfelberg, Benjamin C. (1961) “A Quarter Century of Court Psychiatry.” Crime & Delinquency, 7/4, pp. 343-362

This study surveys a quarter of a century of continuous operation of the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions of New York County

O'Connor, Richard. (1963) Courtroom warrior: the combative career of William Travers Jerome. Stacks - KF373 .J47 O26

Rovere, Richard Halworth (1947) The magnificent shysters; the true and scandalous history of Howe and Hummel. Stacks - KF353.H68 R6

Tappan, P. W. (1969). Delinquent girls in court; a study of the Wayward Minor. Montclair, N.J., Patterson Smith. Stacks - KFX 2007.35 .T3 1969

Towne, A. (July, 1922) "Young Girl Marriages in Criminal and Juvenile Courts,"

Journal of Social Hygiene, 8 pp. 297-306.

Refers to certain cases heard in the Court of General Sessions and other Courts.

Train, Arthur Cheney (1906) The prisoner at the bar: sidelights on the administration of criminal justice Stacks - KF9223 .T7

A.T. Train was a NYC lawyer, prosecutor and prolific writer, many of his books are freely available on the Internet Archive.

Train, Arthur Cheney (1912) Courts, criminals, and the Camorra. available from HeinOnLine

and Stacks - HV6789 .T7

Train, Arthur Cheney (1911) The confessions of Artemas Quibble being the ingenuous and unvarnished history of Artemas Quibble, esquire, one-time practitioner in the New York criminal courts, together with an account of the divers wiles, tricks, sophistries, technicalities and sundry artifices of himself and others of the fraternity, commonly yclept "shysters" or "shyster lawyers" freely available on the Internet Archive and Stacks - PS3539 .R23 C6

Train, Arthur Cheney (1912) Courts and criminals. Available on HeinOnLine and Stacks - KF9223 .T69 1912

Train, Arthur Cheney (1939) My Day in Court. Available on HeinOnLine and Stacks - PS3539 .R23 Z5 1939