Collections : [National Death Penalty Archive]

This series contains correspondence organized alphabetically by type (sent/received) and by year within each folder. A folder containing character references is noteworthy. These character references were written between late June and early August of 1981, around the time of Ford's parole hearings and clemency case. They are written by his mother, brother, teachers, and friends of the family who knew Ford all of his life. They testify that Ford was a normal, above-average individual who none believed was bent toward murder. Of particular significance is a letter from one of Ford's teachers, Richard Curtis, who said Ford was a model teenager even winning an award for a science project. Correspondence received by Ford are mostly carbon copies retained by Wollan of letters he had sent to Ford. Letters sent by Ford are not represented in this series since they are located within a set of legal papers used in a trial to prove Ford's sanity. They are located in Series One in the folder, Proceedings to Determine Sanity. The General Correspondence folder contains letters that list Laurin Wollan as the recipient of carbon copies, but are not addressed to or from Wollan. Correspondence received by Wollan are usually letters from fellow lawyers and the folders of correspondence sent are carbon copies retained by Wollan that he sent to various individuals.