FEDERAL JUDICIAL HISTORY
The Center's statute directs it to conduct, coordinate, and encourage programs related to the history of the federal judicial branch. It does so by making available the results of its own historical research, by preparing guides to judicial historical resources, and by advising judges and the courts on court history projects.

The Center has completed four units in its project to develop Web-based curriculum materials to help educators teach about the history of the federal courts. Using FJC Foundation funds, the Center hired scholars to prepare course units that examine twelve famous federal trials related to significant public debates in United States history and hired a curriculum design consultant to prepare teachers' guides for each unit. The on-line presentation of the course units will also provide judges and court staff with support materials for use in public outreach activities.

The Center published Initiating a Federal Court Historical Program to assist the various types of historical societies and programs in the courts. The guide offers organizational models for historical programs, suggestions for oral histories and other projects, and a compilation of resources for judicial history.

Also to help judicial history programs, the Center produced a video on oral history programs in the federal courts and broadcast it on the FJTN. The program features excerpts from oral histories with federal judges and interviews with people who conduct oral history programs for federal courts. Support materials and samples of oral history legal releases are available on the Center's Web site.

Center staff continue to update and expand the widely used History of the Federal Judiciary Web site, including the Federal Judges Biographical Database.