Research

Scope and Content Note

The Catholic and Protestant Chaplains, who also served as Parole Agents, kept these records in compliance with institution bylaws directing them to keep records concerning the home, schooling, and employment of paroled inmates and of their adherence to or violations of the terms of their parole. Information is recorded on standard forms printed in the volumes, but the level and type of information included varies widely between and within volumes.

For each parolee, information recorded may include: inmate name and number; book and page on which inmate's history is recorded in Chaplains' Registers of Inmate Case Histories (Series A3146); a consecutive order number assigned to inmates as each was entered; notation if died, discharged, "dropped" (usually if whereabouts unknown for an extended period), "discontinued" (e.g. reports discontinued by order of the Board of Managers), etc.; name and relationship to inmate of parent or guardian; address; date of parole; age; and quarterly employment records, kept for up to four years, very briefly noting what the inmate is doing and his/her conduct (e.g. "School - Very Good", "Farm - Good", "Wherabouts unknown", "Sporting House - Hopeless"). Employment records were not kept in these volumes from 1908 on; Volume 4 indicates that those records were kept on cards, but no such cards have survived.