The Supreme Court of Ohio - Supreme Court - State of Ohio

Supreme Court Makes
1912 Constitutional Convention
Documents Available Electronically
Researching a critical piece in the history of the Ohio
Constitution now is easier because of the efforts of
Supreme Court staff members.
More than 2,000 pages of the Proceedings and Debates of
the Constitutional Convention of the State of Ohio 1912 were
posted in searchable format on the Supreme Court Web site
in November 2008. Law students, researchers, the bench,
the bar and history buffs now can access a word-for-word
account of delegate discussions during the convention’s 22
weeks of meetings.
Steven H. Steinglass, professor of law and dean emeritus
at the Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall
College of Law, originally asked Justice O’Connor for help
in mobilizing Supreme Court resources to digitize the
historical records.
Steinglass, who teaches a course on the history of the
Ohio Constitution, said the 1912 proceedings were the
most significant piece of Ohio constitutional history that
remained offline.
Supreme Court staff members scanned all 2,254 pages of
the proceedings, grouped the pages according to date and
linked each day’s proceedings to a PDF document with
search capabilities.
Among some of the more interesting facts in the volumes
are the 42 amendments proposed by the convention, as well
as the names, addresses and occupations of the delegates
from all 88 counties.
Free Legal
Research
Training Offered
In recognition
of the 50 th
anniversary of
National Library
Week in April, the
Supreme Court
made trainers from
LexisNexis and
Westlaw available to
conduct training on
legal research tools.
Offered free to
library patrons for
the first time, the
training included
beginner and
intermediate sessions
on searching and
menu navigation
techniques. Law
Library Director
Ken Kozlowski said
the training was a
way for those not
adept at using legal
research tools to gain
a comfort level.
Staff from state
agencies, attorneys,
paralegals, law clerks
and patrons from
the general public
participated.
To access the documents, visit supremecourt.ohio.gov.
2008 Annual Report • The Supreme Court of Ohio
51
Clerk's division
Office of the Clerk
Case Mediation Section