The communications series encompasses mailings, newsletters, and events that Mr. Bonowitz participated in.
Series 1 contains documents relating to the internal procedures and finances of Murder Victims' Families for reconciliation. While there are a few documents that provide evidence of how the organization was set up, the majority of documents focus on hiring, day to day finances, and committee meetings. There are also materials related to strategic planning and the creation of by-laws and organizational procedure. Although the series contains materials from 1977 to 2005, the bulk of the material is from 1996 to 2004. Contained in this series are meeting agendas, meeting minutes, meeting summaries, correspondence, annual reports, ballots, evaluation forms, applications, newsletters, fliers, budgets, financial reports, manuals, by-laws, pamphlets, drafts, notes, reports, contracts, forms, resumes, proofs, floppy disks, and cassettes.
This series contains information on the daily, monthly, and yearly operational duties of the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons. There is a general correspondence file containing information about the day-to-day operations of the Coalition, a specific file dedicated to correspondence with the Law Offices of Woods and Woods, and material from the various boards of directors within the Coalition (including meeting minutes). There are also documents related to updates made to the Coalition's by-laws in the late 1980s.
This series contains legal records that are mostly official court proceedings of the Alvin Ford cases covering a period of seventeen years. These cases include State of Florida v. Ford: 1974, which covers the original trial court proceedings. Later cases that bear the same style relate to later attempts of Ford on a motion for post conviction relief and stay of execution in 1981 and a second attempt in 1987. Ford v. State of Florida:1975-1988, Ford v. Strickland et al.: 1981-1984, Ford v. Wainwright: 1981-1988, and Ford v. Dugger: 1986-1991 all represent the trial cases Ford's attorneys filed against a succession of superintendents of the Florida State Prison and secretaries of the Department of Corrections. Other proceedings include multiple trials, pleas, motions, hearings, testimonies, and appeals. Other legal records are background studies on Ford that include detailed psychiatric evaluations, medical and prison records, case summaries, and undated notes by Laurin Wollan.
The series consists of the contents of Manny Babbitt's cell at the time of his execution in May 1999, materials relating to his time in San Quentin, and documents about his Marine Corps service. This series contains Manny Babbitt's original works, including several poems. There also is an empty cardboard box which housed Manny Babbitt's personal items in his cell. Please note that the dates for the series are not inclusive and the bulk of files date from the 1990s.
This series contains the correspondence directed to Bill Pelke, as well as a small amount of correspondence from Bill Pelke. This includes correspondence from death row inmates and fellow activists. Correspondence from activist groups is included in the Activism series; however researchers should note that because of the nature of activist groups, one individual may be involved in many groups. In the event of one individual with correspondence from many groups the correspondence has been assembled together under the activists name.
