An Untapped Treasure: Research Opportunities in Pennsylvania's Federal District Court Records
HOW MANY bodies of unpublished records contain the bankruptcy file of the financier of the American Revolution, a landmark case in the development of motion pictures, and the prosecution of Pennsylvania's brewers in the 1920s? These are but a sample of the rich treasures available in a relatively untouched body of historic United States government records—namely, the records of the federal courts for Pennsylvania. Those records document a broad range of the activities of Pennsylvanians from 1789 to the present. It is little wonder that those materials have not been used, however, since until quite recently they were in poor order and lacked adequate finding aids. Also the complex jargon that enshrouds legal records can be intimidating to those without formal legal training. Assuming those problems were overcome, the question remains, how can court records be used by historians? The Commonwealth's first district court was established in Philadelphia in 1789. In 1801 Pennsylvania received a second federal court in Pittsburgh, when outgoing President John Adams enlarged the