Press Release: June 2, 2008
Central Plains Region
MUGGED! A Rogue’s Gallery of Leavenworth Penitentiary Mug Shots on display at the Kansas City Public Library
On display in the Guldner Gallery from May 24 – July 20, 2008, at the Kansas City Public Library, 14 W. 10th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105.
For More Information Contact:
Kimberlee Ried
(816) 268-8072
MUGGED! A Rogue’s Gallery of Leavenworth Penitentiary Mug Shots is a captivating collection of photographs that provides a window into prison life in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Included in the exhibit are portraits of murderers, thieves, con men, bootleggers, gangsters, white-collar criminals, and an assortment of other lawbreakers, ranging from radical labor union leader William "Big Bill" Haywood and Robert Stroud — better known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" — to African American heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson and train robber Al Jennings.
On March 3, 1891, the passage of the “Three Prisons Act” authorized the building of three prison sites, the first of which was Leavenworth, Kansas, located twenty five miles north of Kansas City, Kansas. Construction began in 1896, the prison opened its doors in 1895, and by 1906 construction was officially completed and all Federal prisoners were transferred to the new facility.
The exhibit’s mug shots represent a very small portion of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)-Central Plains Region’s Records of the Bureau of Prisoners which encompasses all the records of prisoners sentenced to the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.
The Central Plains Region is one of 14 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 43,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 federal agencies. The Central Plains Region houses records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 2312 E. Bannister Rd., Kansas City, MO 64131. It is open to the public Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (816) 268-8000 or visit the Central Plains Region web page.
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