The Green Bag (1889–1914)

The Green Bag was a legal magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts between 1889 and 1914, and popular during the Progressive Era containing news of legal events, biographies, and essays, generally in a lighthearted tone. The magazine was initially captioned "A Useless, but Entertaining Magazine For Lawyers", and later just "An Entertaining Magazine for Lawyers". The name of the magazine was purported to reflect the use of green bags by barristers, although this assertion was disputed.

Charles Carroll Soule, owner of the Boston Book Company and publisher of The Green Bag, hired Horace Williams Fuller to be the first editor. A contemporary publication reviewed the initial efforts of The Green Bag as follows:

Although primarily intended for the amusement of lawyers, this magazine should be a welcome guest at any library table. It is certainly one of the brightest, sprightliest and most entertaining of all the non-scientific journals that come to The Microscope's book-table. Well edited, beautifully printed, finely illustrated, it should meet with a cordial reception from any intelligent reader.

In 1893, A. Oakey Hall began writing "reflective and authoritative essays on legal matters and some biographical sketches of famous people" for The Green Bag, including biographies of Samuel J. Tilden, William McKinley, William Jennings Bryan, and Alexander Hamilton. The success of The Green Bag prompted an imitator, The Canadian Green Bag, launched in January 1895 and edited by Francis Longueville Snow.

Fuller served as editor of The Green Bag until the end of 1900, some months before his death in 1901. Following Fuller's retirement, Thomas Tileston Baldwin became editor, and was evaluated by one reviewer as "a worthy successor to Mr. Fuller judging from his initial number". Baldwin served as editor from 1901 to 1904, giving up editorship in January 1905. During this time, the magazine's offerings included a series of articles contributed by David Werner Amram, which formed the substance of his 1905 book, Leading Cases in the Bible. In these, Amram approached the Bible in a spirit of free scientific inquiry and illuminated the legal problems involved even indirectly in the biblical narrative. The striking originality and charming style of the book was of interest to students of both the law and the Bible.

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