Correctional Photograph Archives, 1895-1975 | Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives

By Rhonda Smith

Printer-friendly |

Collection Overview

Title: Correctional Photograph Archives, 1895-1975

Extent: 1.32 Cubic Feet

Date Acquired: 10/02/1984

Subjects: Corrections--Pictorial Works.

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The photographic collection is rich in its depiction of early twentieth century prison life and conditions. The collection covers numerous subjects such as prison living conditions, recreational activities, industries, hospital care, corporal punishment, work gangs on the farm and quarries, vocational activities, weapons confiscated, prison architecture, and the death house. A few of the images are of prison officials, primarily in the federal penitentiary system.

Collection Historical Note

The American Prison Society Photographic Archive records collection was acquired by through the efforts of Dr. Bruce Wolford of Eastern's College of Law Enforcement. Dr. Wolford received the photographs in 1979 from William Bain, instructor at the Kentucky Bureau of Training.

In the 1960s Mr. Bain, a former staff member of the American Correctional Association, conceived the idea of a pictorial history of the American prison. With the aid of David A. Kimberling, a prison inmate and photographer, Bain had photographs copied from the American Correctional Association archives plus ones he received from various federal and state correctional facilities throughout the United States. In addition to the copies, which comprise the negative part of the collection, he acquired many original black and white photographic prints. Finally in 1978 through the work of Anthony P. Travisono, executive director of the American Correctional Association, Bain's dream, The American Prison: from the Beginning. A Pictorial History, was published.

Subject/Index Terms

Corrections--Pictorial Works.

Administrative Information

Repository: Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives

Acquisition Source: American Prison Society (via Bruce Wolford)

Other Note: Photographs were initially numbered with the accession number; however, a decision was made to change to collection number. The database was changed, but the numbers written on the images were not changed.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Box:

[Box 1],
[Box 2],
[Box 3],
[All]

Box 3

Barcode: 31234014110975

Folder 1: Women's Prisons

Item W2-1: New Detention House for Women
Item W2-2: Female Ward and the Pet Crow
Item W2-3: Female Ward, 1938
Item W2-4: New Women's Division (Georgia State Prison)
Item W2-5: Reformatory for Women (Sherborn, Massachusetts)
Item W2-6: Administration Building (Virginia Ind. Farm for Women)
Item W2-7: Women Sleeping (New York House of Detention)
Item W2-8: Women Sleeping (New York House of Detention)
Item W2-9: Woman Jailor
Item W2-10: Women Prisoners Working on Farm
Item W2-11: Three Black Women (New York House of Detention)
Item W2-12: Staff House (Virginia Ind. Farm for Women)
Item W2-13: Woman Prisoner Feeding Chicken
Item W2-14: Wisconsin Prison for Women, 1942
Item W2-15: Women Prisoners Dancing Around May Pole (West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls), 1938
Item W2-16: Women Prisoners Dancing Around May Pole (West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls), 1938
Item W2-17: Group of Old Camp Buildings for Women
Item W2-18: Six Women Keeping Warm, 1954
Item W2-19: Women Prisoners in Laundry Room
Item W2-20: Sewing Room at Women's Camp (Angola)
Item W2-21: Women's Dining Room, 1938
Item W2-22: New York House of Detention
Item W2-23: Nursery (Reformatory Prison for Women, Sherborn, Massachusetts), 1904
Item W2-24: Female Inmate's Cell, 1938
Item W2-25: Female Prisoners Harvesting Corn
Item W2-26: Dining Room (Reformatory Prison for Women, Sherborn, Massachusetts)
Item W2-27: Three Women Prisoners Sewing and Guard, 1938
Item W2-28: Nine Women with Blanket (Sewing Department, 1938
Item W2-29: Nine Women with Blanket (Sewing Department, 1938
Item W2-30: Seven Women Baking (Reformatory Prison for Women, Sherborn, Massachusetts)
Item W2-31: Female Ward Commissary, 1938
Item W2-32: Women in Snow
Item W2-33: Women's Sewing Class (Prison Aid Society)
Item W2-34: Women in Prison Yard

Folder 2: Work Details

Item W3-1: Conservation Work (Eleven Men Planting Trees)
Item W3-2: Land Conservation (with Official and Car)
Item W3-3: Work Crew Walking by Rails (Utah State Prison), 1938
Item W3-4: Scow Loaded with Ashes and Refuse (Riker's Island), 1924
Item W3-5: Scow Tied up to Pier (Riker's Island), 1924
Item W3-6: Unloading Site with Junk and Debris (Riker's Island), 1924
Item W3-7: Men Digging (Conservation)
Item W3-8: Men Digging (Conservation)
Item W3-9: Men Working with Lumber at White House
Item W3-10: Men Working with Lumber at White House
Item W3-11: Men in Yard with Wheelbarrows, 1938
Item W3-12: Men in Yard with Wheelbarrows
Item W3-13: Men with Wheelbarrows and Men with Pickaxes in Ditch
Item W3-14: Men with Wheelbarrows and Men with Pickaxes in Ditch
Item W3-15: Men with Wheelbarrows and Men with Pickaxes in Ditch
Item W3-16: Brickyard (Kansas State Prison)
Item W3-17: Yard Maintenance (Utah State Prison), 1938

Folder 3: Prison Yards

Item Y1-1: Celebration in Prison Yard
Item Y1-2: Sunday in the Yard
Item Y1-3: View of Prison Yard through Bars
Item Y1-4: Line Up in Prison Yard
Item Y1-5: Empty Prison Yard
Item Y1-6: Prisoners Running Through Prison Yard
Item Y1-7: Military Drill in Prison Yard
Item Y1-8: Prisoners in Prison Yard
Item Y1-9: Prisoners in Prison Yard
Item Y1-10: Yard with Men in White, 1938
Item Y1-11: Unidentified Prison Yard
Item Y1-12: Men at Work in the New Yard, 1938

Folder 4: Copy Negatives of Damaged Photographs

Folder 5: Forty Years In This Business Called Corrections

Folder 6: Construction

Item NC1-1: Lumber with Fenced Enclosure
Item NC1-2: Men Building House Frame
Item NC1-3: Shed in Field
Item NC1-4: Blocks of Bricks
Item NC1-5: Half Built House
Item NC1-6: Man Bricking a House
Item NC1-7: Man Bricking a House
Item NC1-8: Rock and Lumber Inside Building
Item NC1-9: Lumber and Debris Outside Apartment
Item NC1-10: Men Working on Steel Beams
Item NC1-11: Men Inside Frame Working on Steel Beams
Item NC1-12: Piles of Lumber
Item NC1-13: Men Building Bridge
Item NC1-14: Construction Site
Item NC1-15: Men Standing Near Beams
Item NC1-16: Men in Stripes Hauling Lumber
Item NC1-17: Men in Hats Working
Item NC1-18: Pipes and Lumber
Item NC1-19: Building Under Construction (Men Working in Frame)

Folder 7: Corporal Punishment

Item NC2-1: Three Men in Stripes and Chains
Item NC2-2: One Man in Stripes and Chains
Item NC2-3: Three Chained Men with Pickaxes
Item NC2-4: Three Men in Stripes and Chains

Folder 8: Dining Rooms

Item ND1-1: Christmas Dinner (Parchman Farm)
Item ND1-2: Men Sitting at Tables
Item ND1-3: Long Tables with Bowls
Item ND1-4: Wooden Tables with Jars (Old Prison Dining Room)
Item ND1-5: Two Men with Cakes and Pipes (Christmas Dinner - Camp #6, Parchman Farm)
Item ND1-6: Wooden Tables and Benches with White Plates and Bowls

Folder 11: Farms/Farming

Item NF1-1: Two Men with Mule and Wagon at Grain Bin
Item NF1-2: Pigs and Piglets
Item NF1-3: Field
Item NF1-4: Boys Gathering Potatoes
Item NF1-5: Men Resting in Field
Item NF1-6: Plowed Field with House in Background
Item NF1-7: Four Men Working with Hay
Item NF1-8: Two Boys with Crate
Item NF1-9: Pigs Running Toward Food
Item NF1-10: Man Feeding Chickens
Item NF1-11: Men with Hats Hoeing
Item NF1-12: Grain Bin
Item NF1-13: Boys in Mule Drawn Wagon
Item NF1-14: Man on Knees in Field
Item NF1-15: Men Hoeing

Folder 12: Graveyards

Item NG1-1: Cemetery with Crosses
Item NG1-2: Unidentified Gate (Possible Cemetery)
Item NG1-3: Tombstones
Item NG1-4: Unknown Grave (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)
Item NG1-5: Tombstones with Two Flags Near Building (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)
Item NG1-6: Tombstones with Three Flags (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)
Item NG1-7: Cemetery with Four White Markers in Forefront (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)
Item NG1-8: Two Markers with Flags (Close Up View) (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)
Item NG1-9: Cemetery Entrance (Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ohio)

Folder 13: Inside of Prisons

Item NI1-1: Men in Classroom
Item NI1-2: Poster - Listing Rules and Ideas
Item NI1-3: Poster - Listing Counties and Work Details
Item NI1-4: Man in Gymnasium
Item NI1-5: Cell with Pictures of Girls
Item NI1-6: Man in Kitchen
Item NI1-7: Room with Cakes and Pies
Item NI1-8: Cell #1301
Item NI1-9: Cells Draped with Blankets
Item NI1-10: Poster - Listing Costs (Sing Sing)
Item NI1-11: Three Windows
Item NI1-12: Poster - Promoting Work
Item NI1-13: Poster about Tramps
Item NI1-14: Four Men in Shadows
Item NI1-15: Cell Block with Stove
Item NI1-16: Cell Block under Construction
Item NI1-17: Men Huddled Between Cells
Item NI1-18: Poster - A Parole Board
Item NI1-19: Two Men in Shadows
Item NI1-20: Cell with Stool and Two Buckets
Item NI1-21: Cell with Iron Bunk
Item NI1-22: Cell Block with Sunlight
Item NI1-23: Cell Block with Three Tiers
Item NI1-24: Man on a Bench
Item NI1-25: Dark Cell with Wooden Bed
Item NI1-26: Cell with Rolled Up Bedding
Item NI1-27: Cell Block with Cracked Shiny Floor
Item NI1-28: Dark Room with Tables and Black Posts
Item NI1-29: Poster - Prison Yards (New York State)
Item NI1-30: Prison Orientation
Item NI1-31: Four Open Cell Doors
Item NI1-32: Open Cell with Draped Blankets
Item NI1-33: Cell Door
Item NI1-34: Tunnel
Item NI1-35: Cell Block
Item NI1-36: Cell #16 (Edwards)
Item NI1-37: Cell #16 (Edwards)
Item NI1-38: Poster - Success and Parole
Item NI1-39: Padded Cell
Item NI1-40: Poster (New York Counties)
Item NI1-41: Man with Cards in Cell Block
Item NI1-42: Dorm with Bunk Beds
Item NI1-43: Dorm with Neat Beds
Item NI1-44: Dark Cell Block
Item NI1-45: Cell Block with Spittoons
Item NI1-46: Cells #12 and #13
Item NI1-47: Cell Hallway with Pipes
Item NI1-48: Men Sitting at Tables and Leaning Over Balcony
Item NI1-49: Cell Block with Stairway
Item NI1-50: Dark Cell Block
Item NI1-51: Cell #34
Item NI1-52: "A" Block with 352 Cells, 1946
Item NI1-53: Two Officials (?) in Hallway
Item NI1-54: Dietary Department Delivering Food (City Prison, Manhattan)
Item NI1-55: Dietary Department
Item NI1-56: Six Women Keeping Warm, 1954
Item NI1-57: Two Women Sleeping (New York House of Detention)
Item NI1-58: Poster - "A Prison Warden"
Item NI1-59: Inside of Prison Under Construction
Item NI1-60: Men with Machinery
Item NI1-61: Three Black Women (New York House of Detention)
Item NI1-62: Cell Window with Sunlight
Item NI1-63: Hallway

Folder 14: Prison Officials

Item NO1-1: Man with Car and Chauffeur
Item NO1-2: Men with Top Hats
Item NO1-3: Couple in Rocking Chairs
Item NO1-4: Men with Swords Walking Down Cobbled Street
Item NO1-5: Men Getting into Car
Item NO1-6: Family of Four
Item NO1-7: Man in Car at Corner
Item NO1-8: Two Men in a Car
Item NO1-9: Saluting Men Walking Toward Crowd
Item NO1-10: Uniformed Men Walking Toward Fountain
Item NO1-11: Man Leaning on Gate
Item NO1-12: Family in Straight Backed Chairs
Item NO1-13: Group Photograph with Women on Right
Item NO1-14: Group Photograph with Women on Left
Item NO1-15: Three Men, One Woman in Car with Chauffeur Checking Tire
Item NO1-16: Major Lawes' Boys Watching Passing Ship The Tall River
Item NO1-17: Major Lawes' Boys with Packs
Item NO1-18: Major L.E. Lawes and his Boys Posing
Item NO1-19: Chauffeur and Man in Car at a Corner
Item NO1-20: Major Lawes and his Boys (Candid)

Folder 15: Outsides of Prisons

Item NO2-1: City Prison (Portugal?)
Item NO2-2: Side View of Prison with Grassy Yard
Item NO2-3: City Prison (New York)
Item NO2-4: Side View of Prison with Canal
Item NO2-5: Unidentified City Prison
Item NO2-6: Stone Prison (Side View)
Item NO2-7: Men Walking Between Prison and Canal
Item NO2-8: Prison Buildings with Roofs Under Construction
Item NO2-9: Rooftops and Three People (Aerial View)
Item NO2-10: Building with Man in Car and Man Standing in Yard
Item NO2-11: Three Buildings and Two Guards Walking (Aerial View)
Item NO2-12: Three Barracks with Two Men in Hats
Item NO2-13: Prison with Smoke Stack
Item NO2-14: Side View of Prison with Grassy Yard
Item NO2-15: Prison with Slit Windows
Item NO2-16: Prison Under Construction
Item NO2-17: Women with Suitcase Passing Prison
Item NO2-18: Guard at Unfinished Jail
Item NO2-19: Prison with Long Windows
Item NO2-20: Prison with Grass and Rocks
Item NO2-21: House of Detention for Women (New York)
Item NO2-22: Prison with Boat Dock and Smoke Stacks
Item NO2-23: Side View of Prison near Garage
Item NO2-24: Prison with Smoke Stacks
Item NO2-25: Prison with Stonewall
Item NO2-26: Prison with Stonewall
Item NO2-27: Prison with Wooden Fence
Item NO2-28: Three Men at Prison Door
Item NO2-29: Rooftop of Prison
Item NO2-30: Prison and Two Houses
Item NO2-31: Prison with White Railing
Item NO2-32: Prison with a Pond
Item NO2-33: State Prison Resembling Castle
Item NO2-34: City Prison Under Construction
Item NO2-35: Side of Prison with Wooden Fence
Item NO2-36: City Prison with Two Trucks on Street
Item NO2-37: Brick Prison with Basement
Item NO2-38: Junkyard behind City Prison
Item NO2-39: Dirt Road of Prison
Item NO2-40: Prison from the Sea
Item NO2-41: Prison and Barn
Item NO2-42: Man Strolling by Prison
Item NO2-43: Side of City Prison with Downtown Crowd
Item NO2-44: Prison with Two Cars
Item NO2-45: Front of Prison
Item NO2-46: Prison with Five Small Trees and White Dog
Item NO2-47: Prison with Five Windows and Smoke Stack
Item NO2-48: Dirt Road Leading to Prison
Item NO2-49: Prison Under Construction
Item NO2-50: Prison Under Construction (Close Up View)
Item NO2-51: Side of Prison with Clothes on Line
Item NO2-52: Brick Prison (Showing Eight Windows)
Item NO2-53: Men and Boys at Climbing Ropes in Front of Prison
Item NO2-54: Outdoor Scene with Corral and Railroad Tracks

Folder 16: Recreation

Item NR1-1: Men Running Across Field
Item NR1-2: Race
Item NR1-3: Men Strolling Along Road
Item NR1-4: Men Strolling in Yard
Item NR1-5: Mutual Welfare League Party - Men at Tubs (Auburn)
Item NR1-6: Mutual Welfare League Party - Man Accepts Silver Cup (Auburn)
Item NR1-7: Baseball Game
Item NR1-8: Marching Band
Item NR1-9: Men Strolling in Uncrowded Yard
Item NR1-10: Men Strolling in Crowded Yard
Item NR1-11: Mutual Welfare League Party - Prisoners Mingling (Auburn)
Item NR1-12: Men on Horses and Bikes by Water
Item NR1-13: Man Strolling Down Walkway in Nature

Folder 17: Rock Quarries

Item NR2-1: Land Construction with Two Cranes and Tracks
Item NR2-2: Men in Stripes Working in Quarry
Item NR2-3: Four Men and a Mule in Rocky Field
Item NR2-4: Men Working on Road
Item NR2-5: Four Men Digging Rock
Item NR2-6: Quarry with Building in View
Item NR2-7: Men at Rock Wall
Item NR2-8: Loading Rock on Conveyor Belt
Item NR2-9: Quarry
Item NR2-10: Men in Stripes at Quarry with Tracks
Item NR2-11: Rock Road
Item NR2-12: Men Digging Rock Overlooking Water
Item NR2-13: Blocks of Rock
Item NR2-14: Piles of Rock by Fence
Item NR2-15: Five Men at Rock Pile
Item NR2-16: Two Men Working on Snowy Cliff

Folder 18: Toilets

Item NT1-1: Two Buckets
Item NT1-2: Four Grungy Toilets
Item NT1-3: Shower Room (Angola)
Item NT1-4: Clean Sink and Toilet (New Hampshire State Prison)
Item NT1-5: Sink and Toilet Built into Wall
Item NT1-6: Solitary Cell (Indiana State Penitentiary)
Item NT1-7: Cell with Sink, Toilet and Rolled Up Bedding
Item NT1-8: Toilet Bowl
Item NT1-9: Row of Buckets
Item NT1-10: Cell with Corner Sink and Toilet Built into Wall
Item NT1-11: Toilet Built into Wall
Item NT1-12: Cell with Sink, Stool on Bunk, Toilet Built into Wall

Folder 19: Transportation

Item NT2-1: Prison Wagon
Item NT2-2: Wagon with Men in Tents
Item NT2-3: Locomotive and Crew
Item NT2-4: Prisoners Transferring Trains (Jersey City)

Folder 20: Unidentified Houses and Buildings

Item NU1-1: Man Standing by Car and White House
Item NU1-2: Ladders Against Large House
Item NU1-3: Stone Building
Item NU1-4: House, Field and Stone Building
Item NU1-5: Several Houses in the Country
Item NU1-6: House with Porch and Cats
Item NU1-7: Het Groote Woudhuis
Item NU1-8: Several Houses in Country with Cloudy Sky
Item NU1-9: Houses in German Style
Item NU1-10: Rooftop
Item NU1-11: Ornate Side of House
Item NU1-12: Building with Tent and Laundry on the Line
Item NU1-13: Several Barns
Item NU1-14: Het Groote Woudhuis from the Side
Item NU1-15: Two Large Houses

Folder 21: Unidentified People

Item NU2-1: Man Having Picnic
Item NU2-2: Couple on Bench
Item NU2-3: The Puppy Mascots
Item NU2-4: Dead Man in Field (Chillicothe Correctional Institution)
Item NU2-5: Crowd at Train Station
Item NU2-6: Sea Captain on Deck
Item NU2-7: Men Leaning out Train Windows to See Puppy Mascots
Item NU2-8: Two Ladies and Man at White Columned House
Item NU2-9: Eleven Men and One Woman at Brick House
Item NU2-10: Crowd in Road by Car
Item NU2-11: Crowd Among Flags
Item NU2-12: Four Uniformed Men and Women in White Walking
Item NU2-13: Men and Boys at Locomotive
Item NU2-14: Crowd with Flags on Cobbled Street
Item NU2-15: Two Men with Hats
Item NU2-16: Band with Crowd at Railroad Tracks
Item NU2-17: Mixed Crowd Watching for Unknown People or Parade
Item NU2-18: Uniformed Men and Woman in White (Ministry Building)
Item NU2-19: Uniformed Men and Woman in White (Ministry Building)
Item NU2-20: Ladies in Hats with Umbrellas
Item NU2-21: Five Reporters in Stands
Item NU2-22: Prisoners in Stripes in a Line
Item NU2-23: Several Men on a Bench
Item NU2-24: Crowd at Fountain
Item NU2-25: Young Woman in Chair

Folder 22: Work Details

Item NW1-1: Five Men Digging
Item NW1-2: Seven Men with Shovels and Man in Vest
Item NW1-3: Men Walking into Woods
Item NW1-4: Men Pulling Wagons
Item NW1-5: Men on Dock
Item NW1-6: Man in Truck with Debris
Item NW1-7: Men with Wheelbarrows
Item NW1-8: Men Logging
Item NW1-9: Double Exposure (Indoor/Outdoor Scene)
Item NW1-10: Men in Stripes Digging
Item NW1-11: Man Burning Sticks
Item NW1-12: Man Sawing Wood
Item NW1-13: Four Men with Waterhose
Item NW1-14: Men and Women Gardening
Item NW1-15: Men Digging (Conservation)
Item NW1-16: Four Men with Tools at Shed
Item NW1-17: Man with Wheelbarrow in Front of Stone Building
Item NW1-18: Men on Porch at Logging Site

Browse by Box:

[Box 1],
[Box 2],
[Box 3],
[All]