The Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. Incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1974, it was founded by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, who served as its first honorary chairman. The Society accomplishes its mission by conducting educational programs, supporting historical research, publishing books, journals, and electronic materials, and by collecting antiques and artifacts related to the Court's history. These activities and others increase the public's awareness of the Court's contributions to our nation's rich constitutional heritage. Public programs Each year, the Society presents a series of lectures by distinguished scholars focusing on a particular period of the Court's history. These lectures are open to the public, as well as to members of the Society, and are made possible by a grant from West Group, a longtime supporter of the Supreme Court Historical Society. The Society is a co-sponsor of the National Heritage Lecture, an annual event which the Society hosts on a rotating basis with the White House Historical Association and the United States Capitol Historical Society. :: CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF PAST LECTURES The Society conducts an acquisitions program, working closely with the Court Curator's office. The Society has contributed substantively to the completion of the Court's permanent collection of busts and portraits, as well as period furnishings, private papers, and other artifacts relating to the Court's history. Many of these objects are incorporated into displays prepared by the Curator's office for the benefit of the Court's one million annual visitors. Professor William Leuchtenburg delivered a lecture on the episode of the 1937 "court-packing" ~ Photo: Steve Petteway   Lori Asseo of the Associated Press and Frank Murray of the Washington Times joined Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at a reception for Summer Institute teachers ~ Courtesy of Street Law Education The Society and Street Law, Inc. offer the Supreme Court Summer Institute for secondary school teachers. The Institute improves the level of instruction on the judicial system at the secondary school level, reaching students while they are developing an awareness of their rights and duties as citizens. Teachers observe the Court in session, review actual cases under consideration, and hear lectures by experts on the Court. The teachers then produce lesson plans for classroom instruction and train other teachers in techniques for incorporating the Court into the social studies curriculum. This program has more than 300 alumni from almost every state and U.S. possession. The Society also collaborates with Street Law on a special training program for teachers in the District of Columbia Public Schools. In addition to studying Supreme Court cases especially suited to the classroom, the teachers learn the best educational methods for teaching about the judiciary. Justice John Paul Stevens and Dr. Maeva Marcus, Director of The Documentary History Project of the Supreme Court ~ Photo: Steve Petteway General interest publications Several publications of the Society present the history of the Court in a manner suitable for students and general audiences. In cooperation with CQ Press, the Society publishes The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-1995, a collection of biographies of the 108 current and former Justices (edited by Clare Cushman, CQ Press, 1995); Supreme Court Decisions and Women's Rights: Milestones to Equality, (edited by Clare Cushman, CQ Press, 2000) a guide to Supreme Court cases reviewing the equal protection of men and women under the law. The Society also supported the publication of We The Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About Students (by Jamin Raskin, CQ Press, 2000) and The Supreme Court of the United States, a pictorial history of the Supreme Court building. Although the book briefly summarizes the history of the Court (including the period before the Court moved into its permanent home in 1935), the main focus is the Supreme Court building itself, including many areas not ordinarily open to the public and seldom photographed. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Brown case in 2004, Black White and Brown: The Landmark School Desegregation Case in Retrospect was published (edited by Melvin I. Urofsky and Clare Cushman, CQ Press). The Society also publishes a Quarterly newsletter for its membership containing short historical pieces on the Court and updates on the Society's programs and activities. Scholarship and Research The Society's scholarly publications expand public access to its sponsored historical research. The Society publishes the Journal of Supreme Court History three times a year, containing articles by noted historians, political scientists and constitutional law experts. Articles derived from the Society’s lecture series at the Court are featured in special topic issues. The Documentary History of the Supreme Court, 1789-1800 is the Society's most ambitious research and historical preservation project. The reconstruction of an accurate record of the development of the federal judiciary in the formative decade between 1789 and 1800 poses many challenges since records from this period are often fragmentary, incomplete, or missing. Eight volumes in this series have now been published by Columbia University Press. The Society is also conducting an oral history project documenting the service of retired Supreme Court Justices, Solicitors General and Attorneys General. First-hand accounts of their careers will be preserved through recordings and the subsequent transcription and editing of oral histories. Organization At present, the Society has about 6,400 individual members who provide financial support and volunteer for service on its standing and ad hoc committees. These committees report to an elected Board of Trustees; the Executive Committee of the Board is principally responsible for policy decisions. The Chief Justice of the United States is the Honorary Chairman of the Society. The Supreme Court Historical Society supports its programs through contributions from its members, gifts, grants, a small endowment gift shop. The Society is recognized as a (501) (c) (3) organization by the Internal Revenue Service.