In the winter of 1970, Rex Weiner—then a 20-year old college dropout—discovered a bundle of letters in an attic he was renting in Westchester County. The letters were addressed to Faye Owens, an incarcerated resident at the NYS Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY. This is the story of what he did with those letters.
Read MoreFor nearly a century after its opening in 1871, the big prison in the small Central Illinois town of Pontiac operated a farm. This story by contributor William (Bill) Goold tells the history of how the prison farm evolved as the prison itself changed.
Read MoreIn this excerpt from an interview with Durell Pritchard conducted on August 6, 2018 by Michala Matuszewski, a high school student in Pontiac, Illinois, Durell talks about his memories of the prison in Pontiac and its adjacent farm. Durell's uncle was in charge of raising hogs on the prison farm in the 1940’s.
Read MorePrison Public Memory Project 2017 intern Sophia Burns takes a deep dive into a fascinating case file from the late 1800s, telling the story of Maud Veach (a.k.a. Sadie Roe), who was incarcerated at the House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY in the late 1800s.
Read MorePrison Public Memory Project intern Emma Friedlander reports on the remarkable story of a group of sisters and their effort to understand the complicated life of their grandmother, Hilda Cornell.
Read MorePrison Public Memory Project summer intern Emma Friedlander reports on the discovery of the 1896 case file for Lillie Patch, a prisoner at the House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY.
Read MoreIntern Sarah Millender explores the 1978 riot at Pontiac Correctional Center from the perspective of Elizabeth Armstrong. Armstrong was a young girl living across the street from the prison at the time of the riot.
Read MoreFormer PPMP Hudson Site Coordinator Brian Buckley tells the story of the New York State Training School for Girls' closure using primary sources from the offices of Governors Nelson Rockefeller and Hugh Carey (1971-1975).
Read MoreOn May 16th, 2015, Brian Buckley interviewed Mabel Blanks in Hudson, NY. Mabel worked as a teacher at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson.
Read MoreFrankie Bailey investigates the fascinating history of the first reformatory for women in New York, the House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY, and the main historical players behind it.
Read MoreThe Prison Public Memory Project uses public history, art, and new media to engage communities in conversation about the roles of prisons in society.
