Society for the Prevention of Crime records, 1878-1973
Society for the Prevention of Crime records, 1878-1973
Summary Information
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1174
- Bib ID:
- 4079350 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Society for the Prevention of Crime (New York, N.Y.)
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 71 boxes (66 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes (597 and 598), 3 tall phonograph boxes (67-69))
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
Boxes 1 (cataloged correspondence), 67-69 (phonograph disc boxes), and 597-598 (flat boxes) are onsite. The remainder of this collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
Papers of the Society, including correspondence among the officers and directors of the Society, memoranda, reports, legal papers, minutes, financial records, radio scripts, clippings, scrapbooks, comic books, and a subject file of pamphlets and clippings on all aspects of crime prevention. Also, an extensive history of the Society.
Some officers of the Society who appear in the correspondence:
Frank Moss [Counsel 1887-1908; President 1908-1909]
Charles Henry Parkhurst [President 1891-1908]
Samuel Marcus [Counsel 1908-1936]
Charles E. Bruce [President 1909-1921]
S. Edward Young [President 1921-1927]
Howard Clark Barber [Superintendent -1932; Director 1925-1932, 1936-1939]
William Jay Schieffelin [President 1927-1933]
Albert E. Roraback [Vice-President 1926-]
Howard M. Bassett
George P. Hammond [Superintendent 1932-1935]
George Drew Egbert [President 1933-1940]
Henry N. Pringle [Investigator; Superintendent]
Harry Sussman [Investigator]
Lionel J. Freeman [Superintendent 1935-1937]
J. Edward Lumbard [Counsel 1937-]
Benjamin M. Day [President 1940-1942]
Paul Blanshard [Ex Secretary 1941/1942]
George H. Sibley President 1942-1948]
Edwin Jay Lukas [Ex Secretary 1943-1950; Ex Director 1950]
Clarence O. Dimmock [Counsel 1943-]
Bernhard K. Schaefer [President 1948-]
K. Brent Woodruff [Ex Director, 1950/1951]
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into 10 series.
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
Boxes 1 (cataloged correspondence), 67-69 (phonograph disc boxes), and 597-598 (flat boxes) are onsite. The remainder of this collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Society for the Prevention of Crime records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Materials
Society for the Prevention of Crime, MssCol 2811, Manuscripts and Archives Division, NYPL.
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Society for the Prevention of Crime. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1980. Accession number--M-80.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 09/--/89. Processed by Henry Rowen, September 1980.
Revision Description
2010-03-11 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2023-05-08 Phonograph records added to series VII.2. kws
Biographical / Historical
The Society for the Prevention of Crime was founded in 1877 in New York City. It has worked, successively, for the promotion of temperance, for judicial and legislative reform, and for public and legal education. During its most active periods, the Society brought about the formation of of the Lexow Committee to investigate the New York City Police in 1894, contributed to the Albany Crime Commission during the 1930s, and broadcast popular radio programs on criminal behavior, 1946-1948. In 1948 the Society absorbed the Vocational Foundation Bureau, a job placement agency for parolees. Since 1956, the Society's only activity has been its annual grant to Columbia Law School for research in penology.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Series I: Cataloged Correspondence
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Series II: General Files
Box 2
Box 3
Box 4
Box 5
Box 6
Box 7
Box 8
Box 9
Series III: Administration
Box 10
Box 10
Box 11
Flat Box 598
Box 11
Box 11
Box 11
[Henry Dexter, 1813-1910, philanthropist and President of the American News Company, made a bequest to the Society in his will which was contested on behalf of his daughter - legal papers, 1910-1936]
Box 12
Box 12
Box 12
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 16
Box 17
Box 17
Flat Box 598
Formerly described as "oversize #6"
Series IV: Essay Contest
Box 17
Series V: Financial
Box 18
Flat Box 598
Box 19
Box 19
Box 19
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Series VI: Parkhurst, C. H., 1892-1955
(1842-1933) Pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, was President of the Society from 1891 to 1908 and a leader in the reform movement in New York City politics. A memorial to him was proposed for Madison Square but was never built.
Box 21
Box 21
Box 21
Box 22
Box 22
Series VII: Publicity
Box 22
Box 22
Box 22
Box 22
Series VIII: Radio Programs
Box 23
Box 23
Box 23
Box 23
Box 23
Box 24
Box 25
Box 26
Box 27
Box 28
This subseries consists of an incomplete set of transcriptions of the radio program "I Was A Convict." These three boxes contain 78 16-inch aluminum-base transcription discs that were found in a closet in Lehman Library in 2019, in boxes numbered 1, 3, and 5. The item numbers are the number written on the sleeve of each phonograph record. The dates are transcribed from the "Date recorded" given on the label. The serial numbers were also transcribed from the labels.
Box 68 Item 70-72
Box 67 Item 10
Serial number: 8-9351
Box 67 Item 11
Serial number: 8-9374
Box 67 Item 12
Serial number: 8-9817
Box 67 Item 13
Serial number: 9-0029
Box 67 Item 14
Serial number: 9-0318
Box 67 Item 15
Serial number: 9-0674
Box 67 Item 17
Serial number: 9-1310
Box 67 Item 23
Serial number: 9-3370
Box 67 Item 24
Serial number: 9-3785
Box 67 Item 25
Serial number: 9-4140
Box 67 Item 26
Serial number: 9-4512
Box 67 Item 27
Serial number: 9-4824
Box 67 Item 28
Serial number: 9-5133
Box 67 Item 29
Serial number: 9-5302
Box 67 Item 30
Serial number: 9-5487
Box 67 Item 31
Serial number: 9-5806
Box 67 Item 32
Serial number: 9-6081
Box 67 Item 33
Serial number: 9-6366
Box 67 Item 34
Serial number: 9-6661
Box 67 Item 35
Serial number: 9-6912
Box 67 Item 36
Serial number: 9-7218
Box 67 Item 37
Serial number: 9-7396
Box 67 Item 38
Serial number: 9-7460
Box 68 Item 73-74
Serial number: 10-5285
Box 68 Item 75-78
Serial number: 10-9959
Box 68 Item 79
Serial number: 11-0057
Box 68 Item 80-83
Serial number: 11-0302
Box 68 Item 84-85
Serial number: 11-0386
Box 68 Item 86-87
Serial number: 11-0657
Box 68 Item 88-89
Serial number: 11-0905
Box 68 Item 90-91
Serial number: 11-1151
Box 68 Item 92-95
Serial number: 11-1517
Box 69 Item 122-123
Box 69 Item 124, 147
Serial number: 10-7762
Box 69 Item 125-126
Serial number: 10-8068
Box 69 Item 127-128
Serial number: 10-8685
Box 69 Item 129-130
Serial number: 10-9015
Box 69 Item 131-132
Serial number: 10-9349
Box 69 Item 133-134
Serial number: 10-9482
Box 69 Item 135
Serial number: 10-9635
Box 69 Item 138-139
Serial number: 10-9742
Box 69 Item 136-137
Serial number: 10-9637
Box 69 Item 140
Serial number: 10-9636
Box 69 Item 141
Serial number: 11-1957
Box 69 Item 143, 142, 144
Serial number: 11-0674
Box 69 Item 145
Serial number: 11-7951
Box 69 Item 146, 148
Serial number: 11-7962
Box 69 Item 149-150
Serial number: 11-8150
Series IX: Scrapbooks
Flat Box 598
Flat Box 598
Series X: Subjects
Box 29
Box 29
Box 29
Box 29
Box 29
Box 29
Box 29
Box 30
Box 31
Box 31
Box 31
Box 31
Box 32
Flat Box 598
Flat Box 597
Box 32
Box 33
Box 34
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 35
Box 36
Box 36
Box 36
Box 36
Box 36
Box 36
Box 37
Box 37
Box 37
Box 37
Box 37
Box 37
Box 37
Box 38
Box 39
Box 40
Box 40
Box 41
Box 42
Box 42
Box 42
Box 43
Box 44
[G.D. Egbert was President of the Society from 1933 to 1940 and Pastor of the First Congergational Church, Flushing, NY]
Box 44
Box 44
Box 44
Box 45
Box 45
Box 46
Box 46
Box 47
Box 47
Box 48
Box 49
Box 50
Box 50
Box 50
Box 50
Box 51
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 52
Box 53
Box 53
Box 53
Box 53
Box 53
Box 54
Box 55
Box 55
Box 56
Box 57
Box 58
Box 59
Box 59
Box 60
Box 60
Box 60
Box 60
Box 60
Box 61
Box 61
Box 61
Box 61
Box 62
Box 62
Box 62
Box 62
Box 63
Box 63
Box 63
Box 63
Box 64
Box 64
Box 64
Box 64
Box 64
Box 65
Box 65
Box 66