Papers of Lewis E. Lawes
1883 - 1947
Warden of Sing Sing Prison, 1920 - 1941
Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Special Collections X101 - 13 Boxes
Finding aid written by Eileen Rowland, Professor Emerita
A world famous penologist, Lawes was best known for his twenty-one
year stint as Warden of Sing Sing, and for his often extraordinary ability
to keep himself and his viewpoints on crime and punishment in the public
eye. An exemplar of the prison reform movement, Lawes was a strong believer
in rehabilitation as the function of the penal system, and an outspoken
opponent of capital punishment. During his administration rehabilitation
programs at Sing Sing ranged far beyond traditional educational and work
programs to encompass the care and maintenance of an aviary and a greenhouse,
a near professional-level football team, and a Sunday night lecture series
that featured eminent personalities from the arts, sports and religion.
Lawes reputation and ideas reached well beyond the correctional community
through a long running radio program, numerous books and articles, a Broadway
play, and a film adaptation of his best know book, "Twenty Thousand
Years at Sing Sing."
In so far as was possible, the collection has been arranged to reflect
the order imposed by Lawes himself. The principle Series are:
- I. Personal papers - In the course of his thirty-six year career
in New York State correctional institutions and in his post-retirement
involvement in prison programs in support of the war effort. Lawes associated
and corresponded with a wide range of prominent political and cultural
figures including Clarence Darrow, Al Smith, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
Gene Tunney, and Harry Houdini. It was his habit to mount much of this
correspondence in scrapbooks (boxes 3 and 4). Other correspondence files
were kept in more traditional subject-like arrangement, with inevitable
overlaps between the files and the scrapbooks.
- II. Photos and honorary certificates
- III. Sing Sing publications - Star of Hope, Vol. I -
III, (1899 - 1902); Sing Sing Bulletin Vol. 19, nos. 1-12, (1917-1918);
special Lawes birthday edition of Sing Sing News, September 1940.
- IV. "Black Sheep" (Sing Sing football team) - The
football team was the star in the firmament of Sing Sing's Sports programs.
Games were played both within home grounds and "away". Assorted
dignitaries attended and assumed honorific responsibilities at the games.
The accompanying pomp and splendor included music by the Sing Sing band
and a parade featuring the team mascot, a pony painted to resemble a zebra.
The team spawned at least one professional athlete , Alabama Pitts, whose
cross-over from the "Black Sheep" to an outside team required
overcoming a good deal of local fear and hostility.
- V. Miscellaneous - Includes an inventory of Lawes' book collection,
Peter M. Daley materials, and the blueprint for the first electric chair.
- VI. General scrap books - The thousands of newspaper and magazine
articles in Lawes' numerous scrap books (photocopied because the originals
were crumbling) contain both clipping service items related to Lawes, and
material selected by Lawes himself because of his interest in the subject.
The arrangement, except for the "strays" in File #63, follows
the original: no effort has been made to overcome the general lack of order.
- VII. Artifacts - Film footage, printing plates (portraits and
book jacket), carved monogram portion of chair back, autographed baseballs,
inscribed loving cups.
- VIII. Miscellaneous - Inscribed trophies, photographs of Clarence
Darrow and Alfred E. Smith, letter to Lawes from F.D. Roosevelt, microfilm
reels of articles about Lawes and Sing Sing Prison (1926-33, 1930-35, 1932-42).
Supplementary Collection I - 3 Boxes
Materials in this supplement to collection "X101" add significantly
to the documentation of Lawes' life and career. Correspondence files, scrapbooks,
photo's and artifacts expand on the materials acquired earlier. The Sing
Sing administrative files however, strike a totally new note. Communications
between the warden's office and prison staff are stylistically and substantively
at a far remove from the sentimentalized versions of prison life prepared
for popular consumption.
Similarly, the numerous unsuccessful attempts at producing a major
post-humous biography illuminate not only divergent family interests but
also reflect a social ethos increasingly uncomfortable with images of paternalistic
prison wardens and their strayed-sheep charges.
This collection was acquired many years after collection "X101"
although internal evidence suggests they were originally a unified collection.
The principle series in this supplement are:
- I. Personal Papers
- II. Publications and Presentations
- III. Biographical Material
- IV. Scrap Books
- V. Artifacts
Supplementary Collection II - 1 Box
This collection is comprised of photocopies of two scrapbooks of newspaper
and magazine clippings (408 p.), miscellaneous correspondence, and receipts
for the National War Fund effort (1942-1945).
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For access to the collection, contact Prof. Ellen Belcher, Special Collections Librarian via e-mail at ebelcher@jjay.cuny.edu
or by mail at the Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
899 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10019.
Last updated 8/96.