State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Records 1819-1955

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State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Records 1819-1955

http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.365.P381p-ead.xml

Intended as a model of Jacksonian penal reform, the Eastern State Penitentiary operated in the Cherry Hill section of Philadelphia between 1829 and 1970. Designed to promote the moral reform of prisoners by imposing a regimen of silent, solitary self-reflection, the penitentiary became the purest example of the "Pennsylvania plan" of "cellular isolation." The Records of the Eastern State Penitentiary consist of seven bound volumes and a series of miscellaneous records and correspondence that document aspects of life in Jacksonian America's model prison. The collection has been organized into four series: Series I, Bound Volumes; Series II, Miscellaneous Records; Series III, Correspondence of Elizabeth Velora Elwell; and Series IV, Prisoners' Correspondence. The bound volumes contain records of admission for prisoners between 1830 and 1892 (with some gaps), three of which were kept and annotated by the Moral Instructor at the prison, Thomas Larcombe. Larcombe provided interesting comments on the "moral state" of each prisoner, in addition to data on name, age, gender and race, religious affiliation, the charges, sentence, and final disposition. The unbound materials in the collection are diverse, but include an important 70 page manuscript comprising the records of the joint commission charged with investigating management of the prison in 1835, with a partial transcript of testimony, and a series of 29 letters written to or from prisoners at Eastern State, 1845-1871, most unusually the inmate Elizabeth Velora Elwell, writing to her paramour and fellow inmate Albert Green Jackson.

0.5 Linear feet; 7 vols., 1 box

American Philosophical Society

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6630877

Related Entities

There are 35 Entities related to this resource.

Horsford, Amelia

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ds5jft (person)

Larcombe, Rose

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66j76h2 (person)

Harper's Magazine. Editor

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c667xk (person)

Gruber, Jacob W.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67x913g (person)

Comparative anatomist Richard Owen was Superintendent then Director of the Natural History Departments of British Museum; he was the first Hunterian Professor at Royal College of Surgeons (1836), and Fullerian Professor of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at Royal Institution (1858-1862). From the guide to the [A calendar of the correspondence of Richard Owen, 1830-1890] / compiled by Jacob W. Gruber, 1981-1990, 1830-1890, (American Philosophical Society) ...

Williamson, Henry

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63z08ms (person)

Epithet: horse-thief British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000300.0x0000cd Epithet: novelist British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001240.0x0003dc Henry Williamson (1895-1977), writer, was born in south London and educated at Colfe's Grammar School, Lewisham. He fought in the army in the First World War and gained a deep sens...

Bennard, James S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ph4f94 (person)

Miss H.?

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dk84kq (person)

State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Committee.

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Miss H, Queen of Love

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hc1tb2 (person)

Wainwright, Nicholas B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nw1q6f (person)

Nicholas Biddle Wainwright served as Assistant Librarian and later as Director of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. From the description of Invitations, 1933-1942. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). WorldCat record id: 122584713 ...

Larcombe, Ray

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m748mq (person)

Steel, Silas S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rp5vmv (person)

Smith, William F.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d05tqs (person)

Marin, Norman H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z44m2r (person)

Elwell, E. V.?

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6652bgk (person)

State penitentiary for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v46vfd (corporateBody)

The State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is situated on 13 acres known as "Cherry Hill", two miles northwest of the Court House in Philadelphia, Pa. The Pennsylvania Legislature authorized its construction on March 20 1821. Construction begain on May 22 1823 and was completed in 1829. From the description of List of prisoner discharges and scrapbook, 1885-1890. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). WorldCat record id: 151382914 The State P...

E. V. E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bm41gb (person)

Thomas Bradford

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6012qtc (person)

Larcombe, Thomas, 1791-1861

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66v39m7 (person)

Brister, James

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rw39jn (person)

Williamson, Barbary

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63g7bk0 (person)

Miss He

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6555b78 (person)

Jackson, Albert Green

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n719dm (person)

Iwanicki, Edwin

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67r1n18 (person)

Hollinger, Mrs.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60h68jr (person)

Eshelman, Hiram

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6555bx7 (person)

McCulley, James S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qd2sn8 (person)

Pennsylvania. Board of Prisons

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qp99bv (corporateBody)

Williamson, Barbry

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zh9fmj (person)

Kingsley, Gilbert I.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61675m0 (person)

E. V. J.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xb4zb7 (person)

Bradford, Thomas

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66n2xx8 (person)

Epithet: General; GCB British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000473.0x0002ae ...

Elwell, Elisabeth Velora, b. ca. 1843

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s885j0 (person)

Starr, Edward C. (Edward Comfort), 1844-1941

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dj8g0w (person)

Edward C. Starr (1844-1941): minister and missionary; B.A.,Yale, 1866, B.D., 1870; home missionary in the West, 1870-1871; ordained in 1871; minister in Waseca, Minn., 1871-1875: minister in Hartford, Conn., 1876-1880, Northfield, Conn., 1881-1887, and Cornwall, Conn. 1888-1915. From the description of Edward Comfort Starr papers, 1854-1916 (inclusive), 1868-1916 (bulk). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702166771 Edward C. Starr (1844-1941): minister and missionar...

Jackson, E. V.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pt0k9c (person)