Bigelow, Harry A. (Harry Augustus), 1874-1950

The task of initiating an official Law Review at the University of Chicago was first undertaken in 1933 by William Quinlan, Robert Lee Shapiro, and Graydon Megan. With the support of Dean Harry Bigelow, the journal became the university’s official Law Review. Student members of volume one, published in 1933, included Edward Levi, Stanley Kaplan, and Abraham Ribicoff. The Law Review has been in continuous publication since, and serves as a forum for professors, judges, practitioners, and students to express their ideas.

Harry A. Bigelow (1874-1950) was born in Norwood, Massachussetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1896 and went on to earn a law degree from his alma mater in 1899. He spent one year teaching criminal law at Harvard before relocating to Honolulu where he practiced law for three years. Bigelow married in 1902. His wife, Mary Parker, died in 1920. In 1904 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School, which had been founded just two years prior. Bigelow spent the remainder of his career at the University of Chicago, serving as Dean of the Law School from 1929 through to his retirement in 1935. As Professor Emeritus, however, Bigelow continued to teach in the Law School long after his formal retirement. An expert in property law, Bigelow served as an advisor to the American Law Institutue. He was also a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Order of the Coif. An avid big game hunter, Bigelow traveled to Africa for several expeditions. He died from heart failure in 1950 and was survived by his sister.