July 20, 2005

They'll Never Make a Monkey Out of Me: Lost Photos From Scopes Trial Found


Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial, about 60 unpublished photos from the landmark case have been found in Smithsonian Institution archives, including a shot of Clarence Darrow's courtroom jousting with William Jennings Bryan.

"These stunning photographs are the discovery of a lifetime and a spectacular find for the Smithsonian Archives," Marcel LaFollette, a historian who volunteers at the Smithsonian, said in a statement Monday. He found the negatives while doing research for a book.

Among them is one of Darrow, the most famous defense lawyer of his day, interrogating Bryan, the orator and turn-of-the century presidential candidate who was among the trial's prosecutors. The trial had been moved outdoors because of the heat. Bryan fell ill and died five days after it ended.

Scopes, a teacher from Dayton, Tenn., was convicted of violating a state law that forbade teaching evolution and fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the conviction on the narrow ground that only a jury trial could impose a fine of more than $50. It did not rule on the law's constitutionality. The state repealed the law in 1967.

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