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The George Wythe Encyclopedia

Welcome to the George Wythe Encyclopedia, a project of The Wolf Law Library at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The encyclopedia is intended to provide a single source for information relating to George Wythe, first professor of law in America and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Entries highlight Wythe's career as Professor of Law and Police at William & Mary, compile secondary sources containing facts about Wythe's life, and provide background information for the George Wythe Collection, The Wolf Law Library's ongoing re-creation of Wythe's Library.

Featured article "Oration Pronounced at the Funeral of George Wythe" is a newspaper account of the speech delivered by William Munford, George Wythe's friend and former student, at Wythe's state funeral in the Capitol building in Richmond, Virginia, at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, June 9th, 1806. It originally appeared in the Richmond Enquirer in two parts published a week apart on June 13th and 17th, and was subsequently republished in several newspapers including the Raleigh Register and North-Carolina State Gazette. Featured book 200px Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery: with Remarks upon Decrees by the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions, by George Wythe. Printed in Richmond, Virginia, by Thomas Nicolson, 1795.

Featured Picture George Wythe's bookplate from volume 7 of The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Kt., Special Collections, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary. More about known surviving Wythe volumes in the George Wythe Wiki.

About The Wolf Law Library

The law library at the College of William & Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law was rededicated in 2006 as The Wolf Law Library. The current facility was built in 1980, but the library was expanded and completely renovated in 2005-2007 to include space for over 400,000 volumes, seating for more than 500, 12 group study rooms, and the Nicholas J. St. George Rare Book Room, where some of the library's materials relating to John Marshall and George Wythe are on display. The library's mission includes providing access to law and law-related resources, as well as a wide range of services that support the law school curriculum and programs, promoting the advancement of legal scholarship, and fulfilling the information needs of students, faculty, and the local legal community.

For a detailed history of the library, see "America's First Law School Library: A History of the College of William and Mary's Marshall-Wythe Law Library, 1779-1995" by James S. Heller, in Law Librarianship: Historical Perspectives, ed. Laura N. Gasaway & Michael G. Chiorazzi (Littleton, CO: Rothman, 1996), 43-76.