Collections : [National Death Penalty Archive]
National Death Penalty Archive
Researchers, writers, activists, and records on capital punishment in the United States.
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Start Over You searched for: Collecting Area National Death Penalty Archive Remove constraint Collecting Area: National Death Penalty Archive Date range 1947 Remove constraint Date range: <span class="single" data-blrl-single="1947">1947</span>Search Results
David Von Drehle Papers, 1897-2003 7.5 cubic ft.
This series consists of correspondence, meeting minutes of the Board of Directors (1977-1985) and the Executive Committee (1971-1973, 1984), and committee files created or gathered by the executive director, chairman, president, general secretary, and committee chairs of the Association. It also contains biographical information about prospective board members gathered by the Nominating Committee (1963-1967, 1969, 1971-1972, 1974-1982, 1984). Other documents in the series include meeting agendas, memoranda, grant proposals, reports, membership statistics, and records concerning bequests and endowments made to the Association. This material concerns prison conditions, children of offenders, sentencing policies, court rulings concerning prisoners' efforts to form labor unions, construction of new correctional facilities, and the operations of the Association itself. Letters from inmates concerning living conditions in various correctional facilities, transfers from one facility to another, health issues, allegations of abuse by corrections officers, and post-release work arrangements and drug-rehabilitation programs are scattered throughout the series. One of the letters (1985) directed to Correctional Association President Robert Gangi was written by Jean Harris, who became interested in the special problems of female inmates and their children during her imprisonment for murder. Note that the files created by the Institution's Visiting Committee are housed in Series 3, Prison Visits Files, circa 1915-1985, and files created by the Narcotics Committee are housed in Series 4, Narcotics Committee Files, 1949-1975.
Correctional Association of New York Records, 1844-1988 30.97 cubic ft.
Contains items housed in oversized materials folder.
Capital Jury Project, 1941-2011 81.8 cubic ft.
Card File Index of Executions, Undated 2.8 cubic ft.
Watt Espy kept a series of index cards, grouped mainly by state, that records information about executions on American soil (colonies, states, territories) since the 1600s. Some cards contain lots of information, including name, place of execution, method, and details of the crime. Other cards have very little information aside from the fact that someone was executed. Sometimes there is not even a name—just "two slaves" or "pirate". There are additional categories for federal, military, and indigenous executions. There are two different card sizes; for the 3x5 inch cards, each state, territory, or other main division is identified with a manila tab. Subdivisions are marked with blue, unlined cards and are intended to mirror the arrangement of materials in Series #2 as closely as possible.
M. Watt Espy Papers, 1730-2008 88.76 cubic ft.
Case Files, 1947-2012, Undated 19 cubic ft.
This series contains a file for every execution or sentence of death given to a woman or a juvenile that was known to Victor L. Streib. Some of the case study files are simply photocopies of Watt Espy's research cards, especially in cases where Espy's research is the sum total information available that particular execution. Many of these cards are from before 1976, when the death penalty was re-instated in America. Due to improved record-keeping in the modern era, case files from recent years, especially ones that Streib advised in some capacity, may contain significantly more information than others. Information pertinent to these cases vary greatly by individual depending on the state, the era, as well as media coverage of the case. The research collection is up-to-date as of 2012, so any executions, pardons, or reversals that went forward since that date will remain in the series they were in at the time these papers were acquired by the archives.
Victor L. Streib Papers, 1908-2012, Undated, bulk 1978-2007 22.8 cubic ft.
Ernest Van Den Haag Papers, 1935-2000 11.45 cubic ft.
Joseph Spaziano, 1932-2008 7.6 cubic ft.
This series contains materials related to the various trials of Joseph Spaziano and represents material created or used by Michael Mello in Joseph Spazianos defense or during the writing of Michael Mellos book The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence and the Death Row; included in this series are legal materials, correspondence, notes, and research materials.
Michael Mello Papers, 1800-2008, bulk 1970-2004 42.2 cubic ft.
Series contains records from Leigh Bienen's participation in the New Jersey Proportionality Review Project led by Special Master David C. Baldus. This includes correspondence, data gathering information, data tables, and multiple case briefs for the major cases involved in the proportionality review including New Jersey v. Robert O. Marshall, New Jersey v. Marko Bey, and New Jersey v. John Martini.