New York House of Refuge Superintendent's Daily Journals

Chronological.

This is the superintendent's daily log of events.

Routine entries include information about the following: admission of inmates, containing each inmate's name and age and the name of the agency that committed the inmate; discharge and indentures of inmates, containing the name, occupation, and place of residence of the inmate's master or the name and address of the person to whom an inmate was discharged; inmate deaths and escapes; purchase of supplies; and Sunday religious services. After about 1900, the entries for admissions and discharges are usually brief and do not refer to individual inmates. Events reported occasionally or irregularly in the journals include: visits by officials; meetings of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents; and illness of inmates and staff. The gap in the records for the years 1841 to 1844 falls between volumes 6 and 7. Entries in Volume 7 by Superintendent David Terry state that some of his records were stolen on the night of April 17, 1844. Although Terry did not specify which documents were lost, the missing portion of this series was probably among them.

Microform is available at the New York State Archives through interlibrary loan.

Volume list.

The Department of Correction placed these records on loan to the Syracuse University Library from 1960-1977.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.