Courtroom sketches of the dramatic Black Panthers murder trial 35 years ago are coming home to New Haven.
About 20 drawings by Robert Templeton have been acquired by Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Templeton, whose work includes landscapes, illustrations and portraits of prominent Americans, died in 1991. His widow, Leonore Templeton, says Yale wanted the drawings.
“It’s an important part of history and also because the trial was based in New Haven, it’s really part of New Haven history,” she says.
Members of the Black Panther Party, including founder Bobby Seale, were tried in 1971 for the murder of a suspected police informant.
“Certainly, we’re interested in this as the only visual representation of this historic trial,” says Nancy Kuhl, assistant curator of the American Literature Collection at the Beinecke library.
The collection adds to the library’s growing African-American arts and letters collection.
