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Interview with Mary M. Galvin

IntervieweeInterview with Mary M. Galvin American

InterviewerInterviewed by Anne C. Dranginis American

Date2001 March 7

DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation

DescriptionOral history interview with Mary M. Galvin who was interviewed by Judge Anne C. Dranginis on March 7, 2001 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.

Topics Discussed:

- Family Background and Immigration: Mary M. Galvin's great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland in the 1840s due to the potato famine, settling in New Haven around 1869 and starting a fruit business that continued until the 1940s.

- Parents' Lives: Her father became increasingly active in politics, serving as President of the Board of Aldermen in New Haven until his death in 1954. Her mother became the first woman to serve on the Board of Aldermen in New Haven after her father's death.

- Stock Market Crash.

- Early Education: She attended St. Peter's Grammar School in New Haven, taught mostly by nuns. The church was torn down in 2000. She then attended Sacred Heart Academy, an all-girls school.

- College Education: Mary started at Quinnipiac University, initially interested in science. She then transferred to Southern Connecticut State University for a speech and communications program.

- 1968-1971 Protests.

- Bobby Seale Trial (May 1970).

- Law and Early Career: She went to law school at Catholic University, at the Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. After her first year of law school, she worked for the Hill Office of New Haven Legal Assistance. In the summer of 1973, after graduating, she worked in Arnold Markle's office on appellate issues for the New Haven State's Attorney's Office.

Object number2024.38.12a-k

NotesProject Overview: At the turn of the 20th century, other than Mary Hall, women lawyers were virtually unknown in Connecticut. By contrast, at the turn of the 21st century, law schools were enrolling roughly the same number of women as men. Since their earliest time at the bar, women have become leaders in all areas of the profession at a pace out of all proportion to their brief history and number.

In 1999, the Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation initiated the Oral History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project. Within the framework of this dynamic project, the Fellows have been creating a permanent video, audio, and photographic historical record of milestone achievements of women as they have become more visible and achieved prominence in the field of law. In 2019, a leadership donation of $20,000 from the law firm of Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey enabled the project to significantly broaden its scope and plan for the future.

Through its first two phases, the project worked with award-winning documentarian Karyl Evans and attorney/photographer Isabel Chenoweth to produce fifty-eight oral history interviews with outstanding female attorneys and 118 portraits of women in the Connecticut judiciary.

The oral history interviews have collected the stories of women whose ingenuity, perseverance, and intelligence dismantled barriers that historically prevented women from pursuing careers in the law. Connecticut has benefited from the efforts of these “pioneers” as they enriched the legal profession by joining the ranks of their male peers and paved the way for more women to join the profession. (Source: Connecticut Bar Foundation)