Engineers' reports to the state commissioner of highways on highway construction with prison labor

Chronological by date of report.

This series consists of individual annual reports summarizing work done by State prison inmates on construction and maintenance projects on State, county, and town roads during the period 1916 to 1921. The reports were prepared by various project engineers and submitted by the Superintendent of State Prisons to the State Commissioner of Highways. The reports are bound together in one volume.

Much of the construction work was done by inmates from Clinton, Great Meadow, and Auburn prisons. The reports include a short summary of each individual project completed with number of inmates involved, types and volume of materials used, mileage completed, special features of the work, and costs involved in the project. Often attached to the report are 4" x 6" photoprints that illustrate roads before and after improvements, bridge construction, grading, special construction features, and inmates at work or in camp. Approximately 75 photoprints are included in the volume. The reports contain a number of summaries of the cost of the projects which were funded in large part by money from the local governments involved.

Series A1166, Superintendent of Prisons' vouchers for services and expenses of engineers for prison highway construction, contains supplemental material to the engineers' reports in this series. The vouchers and abstracts of Series A1166 cover a similar date span to the records in this series.

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