Please take the time to visit our sister project, Incorrigibles. The Prison Public Memory Project started out working with communities to unearth the history of local prisons, to imagine what...
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Josephine Shaw Lowell and House of Refuge for Women (1887 – 1904)
In the midst of the nation’s first great depression that began in 1873 with the collapse of the New York City financial markets, the House of Refuge for Women was built...
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House of Refuge for Women Founder Inspires New York City’s First Monument Dedicated to a Woman
As told by Joan Waugh in her book on the life of Josephine Shaw Lowell (Unsentimental Reformer,Harvard University Press, 1997): At noon on May 22, 1912, a granite fountain designed...
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“The Dungeons Are Damp and Cold…”
A Board of Managers comprised of prominent citizens from throughout the State appointed by the Governor controlled the New York State House of Refuge for Women. Every year, the Board...
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