Research Guides: National History Day 2025-2026: Revolution, Reaction, Reform: Criminal Justice & Prison Reform

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Criminal Justice & Prison Reform

Criminal justice and prison reform movements have played a major role in American history. Below you'll find organizations and individuals whose collections discuss varying reform movements available at the Schlesinger Library, including archival material, books, journals, and newsletters covering the topic. Materials that have been digitized and are available for remote access are listed first for each category, and materials that must be accessed in person are listed second.

This guide is only a small piece of what we have. Don't be discouraged if your topic isn't listed. Further material on a topic can be found by searching HOLLIS, Harvard's online library catalog. You can search for "women's prisons," "criminal justice," "prison reform" as some examples. Ask a Schlesinger Librarian is also one of the best ways to help start your research and see if we have material related to your topic.

Archival Collections - Online

Angela Davis (b. 1944)
Scholar, author, and Black feminist philosopher Angela Yvonne Davis is one of the most recognized political activists of the 1960s and 1970s. Davis is an advocate for prisoners' rights and a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to abolishing the prison industrial complex. Digitized materials are available in the "Digital Material" tab of the finding aid for the Papers of Angela Davis. The majority of the digitized materials are from Series IV and Series XII of the collection. Series IV, People Vs. Angela Davis, contains material related to the 1972 trial of Angela Davis. The series includes legal documents, posters, correspondence, clippings, National United Committee to Free Angela Davis (NUCFAD) material, fliers, and scrapbooks. Series XII of the collection is comprised of audiovisual material on a wide variety of topics. Digitized images from the Papers of Angela Davis are also available in HOLLIS Images.
Anna Spicer Gladding (1906-1992) and Miriam Van Waters (1887-1974)
In 1932, Anna Spicer Gladding began a 42-year association with the Reformatory for Women in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she was involved in many programs and served as prison librarian, organist and choir director, and leader of the literary and nature study clubs. Miriam Van Waters was superintendent of the Reformatory for Women. She also served as director of El Retiro, a school for delinquent girls in California; referee for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, consultant for the Wickersham Commission, and on a number of other boards and commissions. The collection includes correspondence as well as exchanges between Van Waters and prisoners at the reformatory and elsewhere. There are also drafts of speeches given by Van Waters and drafts of her writings. The entire collection has been digitized, and the digitized materials are available in the "Digital Material" tab of the Papers of Anna Spicer Gladding and Miriam Van Waters finding aid.
Friends of Framingham, Inc.
The Friends of Framingham, Inc., was formed in 1948 in support of Miriam Van Waters and the progressive methods she had implemented as Superintendent of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women at Framingham with emphasis on rehabilitation of women prisoners rather than on punishment. Friends of Framingham worked on development of rehabilitation methods, public education in penology, and improving the practices of government agencies concerned with the accused or convicted. Digitized materials are available in the "Digital Material" tab of the finding aid for the Records of the Friends of Framingham, Inc. Digitized materials include correspondence, Executive Board minutes, committee reports, publications, articles, and state government documents. Additional digitized material is also available via the finding aid for the Additional records of Friends of Framingham Inc.
Minute books of the American Female Moral Reform Society (1834-1841)
The collection consists of two bound manuscript volumes, with the first volume containing minutes, the constitution, lists of names and addresses of the 210 members of the New York Female Moral Reform Society. The second volume includes the initial constitution and officers list of the American Female Moral Reform Society and subsequent minutes. In addition to recording the Society's day-to-day work, there are also accounts of its decision not to affiliate with the male-dominated and financially floundering American Reform Society; an account of the reasoning behind the change of the society's name from "New York" to "American" Female Moral Reform Society; and of a crisis involving the Society's "publishing agent," Reverend Charles Yale whom they suspected of embezzlement. Several pages of the second book address this issue, which took some time to resolve. The Society was also invited to provide testimony as part of a grand jury investigation into the work of abortionist Madame Restell in 1841 and there are references to this in the second book.
Miriam Van Waters (1887-1974)
Penologist Miriam Van Waters was superintendent of the Reformatory for Women in Framingham, Massachusetts. She was also director of El Retiro, a school for delinquent girls in California, referee for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, director of the juvenile delinquency section of the Harvard Law School Crime Survey, consultant on juvenile delinquency for the Wickersham Commission, and secretary of the American Youth Commission. The collection contains correspondence, diaries, notes, lectures, speeches, articles, reports, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, and printed material documenting Van Waters's personal and professional life. The entire collection has been digitized, and the digitized materials are available in the "Digital Material" tab of the Papers of Miriam Van Waters finding aid. Digitized images of Miriam Van Waters are also available in HOLLIS Images.

Archival Collections - In-Person

Dedham Temporary Home for Women and Children
Founded in 1864 by Hannah Balch Chickering, the Temporary Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners focused on rehabilitation through religious instruction and vocational training. In 1910, as the Dedham Temporary Home for Women and Children, it began to provide convalescent care for women and children. The home closed in 1946. The collection includes annual reports, minutes of meetings and secretary's reports, financial and legal documents, histories of the home, and a photograph of its founder.
Donna M. Finn (1946-2015)
Donna M. Finn's career as a community activist began in 1970, through anti-Vietnam War protests organized by The People First. In 1973, Donna Finn co-founded the Families and Friends of Prisoners and the related Massachusetts Coalition for Alternatives to Prisons. These two groups worked to keep the families of prisoners together, and to educate the larger community about the impact of prisons and juvenile institutions on families. This collection documents the life of Donna Finn, particularly the connections between Finn, who was politically active for most of her adult life, and the people who ran Boston's various community organizations. This material also documents the strategies used by local Boston political activists in the 1970s through 1990s.
Fanny Southard Hay Hall (1872-1968)
A supporter of woman's suffrage, Fanny Hall was also very active in the prison reform movement in Ohio, serving as chair of the Courts Committee of the Women's City Club of Cleveland, and as treasurer of the Ohio Committee on Penal Conditions. In 1923, she was the first woman to serve as foreman of a grand jury in the United States. Hall was also a board member of the Legal Aid Society and the Consumers' League of Ohio. In 1926 she moved to New York City, where she was an investigator for the Emergency Work Bureau. The collection includes three oversize scrapbooks containing clippings, correspondence, programs, and reports, mostly concerning her work for prison and judicial reform in Cleveland, and a notebook detailing committee meetings and conversations with various figures involved in reform of the judicial system.
Justine Wise Polier (1903-1987)
Lawyer and judge, Justine Polier was counsel in the Workmen's Compensation Division of the New York State Department of Labor. She was Judge of the New York State Family Court, where she pioneered the treatment method of juvenile justice. Among her achievements were improvements in shelters for neglected children, detention centers for delinquents, foster homes, youth centers, and expanded mental health services for children in the court. The collection documents Polier's commitment to juvenile justice and the welfare of children of all races and religions.

Published Materials

The library's published material collections are a rich source of information. Below, you'll find a sampling of books, journals, and newsletters available to researchers online and researchers able to visit the library in-person, but a much larger selection is available through HOLLIS, Harvard University's catalog. To find material available at the Schlesinger Library, use the "Advanced Search" feature and limit your search to "Library Catalog." Choose "Schlesinger" from the "Scope" drop-down menu. Finally, select "Books" or "Journals" from the "Resource Type" drop-down menu. This search results list for the keyword "abolition" serves as an example of the breadth of books available in the Schlesinger Library's collection.

Please note that some materials labeled as available "Online" in the library catalog may require HarvardKey access for remote access. During an in-person visit, you can access those materials on the Library's public computers.