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.

Genre/Form
Account books CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Annual reports CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Annual reports CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Bylaws (administrative records) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Case files CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Casebooks CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Clippings (Information Artifacts) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Comic books CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Correspondence CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Financial records CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Phonograph records CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Photographs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Reports CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Scripts (documents) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Sound recordings CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
minutes (administrative records) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Name
Albany Crime Commission (Albany, N.Y.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Blanshard, Paul, 1892-1980 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Bruce, Charles Edward, 1876-1950 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Columbia University. School of Law CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Egbert, George Drew CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Lukas, Edwin J. (Edwin Jay), 1902-1973 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Lumbard, J. Edward (Joseph Edward), 1901-1999 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Moss, Frank, 1860-1920 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Parkhurst, C. H. (Charles Henry), 1842-1933 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Pringle, H. N. (Henry Nelson), 1864-1948 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Schaefer, Bernhard K., 1897-1985 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Schieffelin, William Jay, 1866-1955 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Censorship -- United States CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Child labor CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Civil rights CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Corrections -- Research CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Courts -- New York (State) -- New York CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Crime prevention -- Citizen participation CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Crime prevention -- Societies, etc CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Drugs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Employment agencies CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Parole CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Police -- New York (State) -- New York CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Police corruption -- New York (State) -- New York CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Radio programs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Scrapbooks CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Social problems CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Temperance CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID