Author Archive

Photo and story share in Hudson, NY on November 18th

We are happy to announce our first grant from the New York Council for the Humanities to support the implementation of public engagement programming in Hudson, NY—a photo and story share!...

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Name the Warden

Name the Warden

              Abraham “Abe” Novick, Superintendent of the NYS Training School For Girls, 1953 to 1963 Named as a Social Work Pioneer http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneers/default.asp by the National...

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Press Release

:: For Immediate Release :: NEW PROJECT LAUNCHES VIRTUAL CENTER FOR PRISON MEMORIES AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, SHOWCASES WORK IN HUDSON, NY Hudson, NY –The Prison Public Memory Project, focused on...

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Bearing Witness

Bearing Witness

Last July, a box of documents from the New York State Training School for Girls—intake forms, letters, photographs, and other administrative paperwork from the 1920s––was discovered by Lisa Durfee at...

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Understanding and Preserving a Community’s Heritage

Understanding and Preserving a Community’s Heritage

On January 6th, 2012, oral historian Suzanne Snider interviewed Timothy Dunleavy, a resident and business owner in Hudson, NY. Tim is also the President of Historic Hudson, a non-profit organization...

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Who’s Punching the Clock?

Who’s Punching the Clock?

Hudson, NY resident Debra Gallo sent in this wonderful photo of some of the people who made up the maintenance crew at the Girls Training School in 1954. Problem is...

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First Letter Home

First Letter Home

December 28, 1930 Dear Mother, How did you enjoy the party the other night. I wish I could see Mrs. Bradley. But I got a Xmas card from Mr and Mrs....

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“They Are All Ellas...”

“They Are All Ellas…”

In an article she wrote for the New York Times in 1996, journalist Nina Bernstein tells the story of famed jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald’s experience at the Training School for...

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Closure of the Girls Training School

Closure of the Girls Training School

a local perspective… In the few months before its closing on August 18th, 1975, Hudson residents, Training School employees, and elected officials waged a campaign to stop the closure. The...

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How Jan Kerouac ‘Escaped’ the Girls Training School

How Jan Kerouac ‘Escaped’ the Girls Training School

Legendary Beat Generation novelist and poet Jack Kerouac  and his second wife Joan Haverty were separated when they had a daughter, Janet Michele Kerouac, on February 16, 1952. Mother and...

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The Delaney Report (1915): Overview

The Delaney Report (1915): Overview

On February 1, 1915, John H. Delaney, Commissioner of the New York Department of Efficiency and Economy (NYDEE), released a report roundly condemning the New York State Training School for...

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Happy Childhood, Broken Homes

Happy Childhood, Broken Homes

Born and raised on a farm in Hudson, NY, Karen dePyster went to work at the New York State Training School for Girls in 1968, right after she graduated from...

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