Books on DC lawyer from 1930s to 1950s. Fiction or nonfiction.

Have you tried 'WorldCat"?  I entered "women lawyers district of columbia" and checked off Book and publication year 1930 through 1950. One hit is: "women's Bar Association documents and correspondence 1935-1967" .District of Columbia..  Another ebook are the minutes of meeting of Board of Directors of that association.

Sadly, nothing I found that way is accessible without an account from the libraries. 

I'm not a student or alumnus of any of them. The women’s bar association gave me access to the article Aunt Naomi published in their journal, but its certain  she was involved in the DC bar. I'd really like to read them but don't have a login where they are held.

Thanks so much, I will try more searching there.

Thank you for posting your question on History Hub!

We suggest working with your local library to identify books on this topic. If what you seek is not available at your library, it may be possible to arrange for an interlibrary loan. Exact options and policies vary between libraries, so your local librarians would be the best positioned to provide answers for your specific circumstances.

We hope this assists you with your research! 

I found an interesting M.A. thesis online entitled "Glass Ceiling, Paper Walls: Uncovering the Experience of Women Personnel at the Tokyo International Military Tribunal" by Katherine G. Jardine.  It's free online.  Simply type in the author's name on a Google Search.  I'll keep looking for other sources.

"Fair Labor Lawyer: The Remarkable Life of New Deal Attorney and Supreme Count Advocate Bessie Margolin.  Louisiana State Univ. Press, 2016.  Amazon is currently previewing the first 81 pages of the book.  And a website called ADDall, which lists online bookstores and its prices, shows very low prices for "like new" copies of the book.  And then there's always interlibrary loan.  Good luck.

Thanks so much! Those two suggestions of yours look very useful.  I hope to write about my great-aunt great-aunts career at some point. 

I'm so glad you had such good pointers.

I found some more information about women lawyers from the 1930's to 1950's 

There is a free website called Hathi Trust.  On it is a "Survey of the American Legal Profession" published during the 1950's.  Several pages are devoted to the subject of women lawyers.  The authors are Albert P. Blaustein and Charles O. Porter.  I suggest you use an advanced search to find the survey.  You may have to register to use Hathi Trust but it is free.

Next is a book called "Be Somebody: A Biography of Marguerite Rawalt" by Judith Paterson, Austin,TX: Eakin Press, 1986.  There are 123 copies listed on WorldCat so interlibrary loan is a possibility.  ADDall, the used book website, lists many inexpensive copies.  Marguerite Rawalt started the first bar association for women in D.C.  I am reasonably sure she knew your great aunt Naomi.

Now the hard part.  I don't know where you live, but if it is anywhere near a law school, the librarians might let you use a website called Hein Online to read a two-part article in the Harvard Law School Record.  The article was written by Barbara L. Armstrong, a lawyer in a private firm in NYC.  The first article includes many of the statistics that Blaustein and Porter used in their survey.  The second article is much more descriptive about women lawyers -- difficulty in getting jobs, no admittance to bar associations, etc.  It's a very informative article.  Here is the full citation: Barbara L. Armstrong, " 2997 Women Practice Law in U.S., Still Find Going Tough, Survey Shows," Harvard Law School Record, Vol. 13 Part 1-12/6/1951; Part 2-12/13/1951.  Each article begins on page 1 and  is continued on page 4.  If you can't use Hein Online,,ask your local library if they will request the article on interlibrary loan.

According to Barbara Armstrong, of 171,110 lawyers in the U.S. circa 1950, only 1.7% were women.  Harvard Law School did not admit women until 1950.

Good luck.