Interior of guard room, Mass. State Prison

Interior of guard room, Mass. State Prison

Item Information

Title:
Interior of guard room, Mass. State Prison
Collector:
Cutler, Wolcott, 1891-1965
Date:
[ca. 1850–1925]
Format:
Photographs
Genre:
Lantern slides
Location:
Boston Public Library
Charlestown Branch Library
Collection (local):
Charlestown Lantern Slides
Subjects:
Prisons
Interiors
Massachusetts State Prison
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston > Charlestown
Rutherford Avenue District
Extent:
1 photograph : transparency
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/8k71pc61r
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND).
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Notes:
Title from materials accompanying item.
Additional information accompanying item: #14 in series of 18 stereoscopic views of Massachusetts State Prison, Bunker Hill District. ... Tea, coffee, tobacco, milk, butter, cheese, older and fresh fish were forbidden by law. (Tobacco gained lawful entrance into the prison, at least, in 1860.) ... In colonial prisons "a coarse diet" was traditional and this tradition was carried over into the state prison. In 1825 the cost of food per man was less than .05 a day, but the diet of the early days was not designed to please either the dieticians or gourmets: Sundays: "One pound of bread, of the cheapest materials, and one pound of coarse meat, made into broth." Mondays and Wednesdays: "One pound of bread and one quart of potatoes." Tuesdays and Fridays: "One pint of Indian meal made into hasy pudding, half a gill of molasses and a quart of soup made of ox heads and offal." Thursday: "One quart of Indian meal, made into hasy pudding." Saturdays: "Half a pound of bread, four ounces of salt pork and a quart of pea or bean porridge." ... For those whose wills could not be "broken," the prison afforded "in the lower arch" in size, with a board for a bed and bread and water for "diet," with no limitation on length of occupancy.
Notes (ownership):
Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society
Notes (date):
Date from accompanying materials: Before 1925
Date supplied by cataloger.
Notes (historical):
Reverend Cutler was rector at St. John’s Church from 1924 to 1959 and most likely assembled this collection during that time.
Identifier:
CHA-86-E1