Sing Sing Prison Museum

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  • Home
  • Why a Museum?
    • Project Summary
    • Sing Sing Today
    • The 1825 Cellblock
    • The Powerhouse
  • History of Sing Sing Prison
    • Quick Facts
    • Historic Significance
    • The Mutual Welfare League
    • Working at Sing Sing
  • Programs and Events
    • Justice Talks
    • Community Conversations
    • Interviews
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Plan >
      • Who's Involved
      • The Project's Impact
      • Bird's-Eye Overview
    • Board of Trustees
    • 2020 Year End Summary
    • Reception
    • Press
  • Blog
  • DONATE
  • Contact

Blog

Finding Your Sing Sing Prison Ancestor

4/13/2021

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Operations Manager Nicole B. DeRise is our resident genealogist. She provides here ways you can research family members that may have been incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison.  


One question I get often is “how do I find the records of an ancestor that may have been at Sing Sing Prison?” The Sing Sing Prison Museum does not hold any of the historic admission or personnel records, nor does it hold any current records related to any incarcerated individuals. This blog post will outline some ways of conducting research that will hopefully help you find records and/or corresponding material.
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New York State Archives is the holder of the Sing Sing Inmate Admission Registers (please note, SSPM does not use the terminology “inmate” but in cases of historic records and titles, we will use it for clarity purposes). The registers consist of information on each incarcerated person received at the prison. The following information is listed: admission date, aliases, what county they came from, age, birthplace, marital and family status, current address, physical descriptions, literacy ability, language spoken, religion, vices (drinking/smoking), occupation, date of conviction, crime, term of sentence, and judge in the case.

New York State Archives provides a comprehensive write-up describing the collection:
https://iarchives.nysed.gov/xtf/view?docId=ead/findingaids/B0143.xml;query= 
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Sing Sing Admission Register Example, ca. 1842-52. Source: New York State Archives. Series B0143-80. Inmate admission registers, 1842-1971. (PPO File #111) 
The admission registers offer a wealth of information while searching for ancestors, however, they are not a comprehensive collection, they only comprise the years: 1842-1852, 1865-1965, and 1970-1971.

There are two ways you can access these records. First, you can sign up for an ancestry.com account, please note this is a paid subscription. Often libraries will offer a free institutional subscription, so be sure to check with your local librarian. The Sing Sing Records can be found here: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8922/.

The second option for accessing the records is through the New York State Archives ancestry.com portal found here: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/research/how-to-video-ancestry. This service is available to all New York State residents.
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When searching for your ancestor it is important to try different variations of the name as spellings, handwriting, and transcriptions can obfuscate the actual name. A good trick to try is if you know the first three letters of the name, add an * at the end so that you will receive records that have those letters in the name and names that sound familiar. For example: 
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Search box using asterisk in ancestry.com.
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Records results from ancestry.com
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When you find the record you are looking for it will look something like this (depending on the year): 
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Admission Register detail from ancestry.com

In the example above, the register shows that John Berthold was born around 1883 in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1899. He was convicted of Burglary in the 3rd degree, and sentenced to 1 to 6 years beginning May 15, 1914. We can find Berthold on the 1915 New York State Census for Sing Sing Prison: 
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New York Genealogical & Biographical Society
has a detailed explanation of New York State Censuses with links to search the state census.
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Another avenue for research is to explore newspapers. Library of Congress and Fulton Search are two free resources. In 1917 The Daily Argus—a Westchester-based newspaper—reported on Berthold, citing he had a “long criminal record” and had been in and out of prisons. 
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Using these different databases and resources, it is very possible to find, verify, and learn more about your ancestors that may have been incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison Museum. We hope that your research inspires you to learn more about the history of Sing Sing and to imagine a more equitable criminal justice system and to take action toward building a more just society.
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Other Resources:
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FamilySearch is a robust and free research resource
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https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
● https://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy 
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Sing Sing Prison Museum Wins NEH Challenge Grant

12/17/2020

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The Sing Sing Prison Museum has been awarded an Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for $364,746. The funds will be used to restore the historic 1936 Powerhouse into a multi-purpose program and exhibition space, to be used for lectures, films, performances, seminars, displays, and conferences related to criminal justice and the American penal system. 

“The Sing Sing Prison Museum has a singular opportunity to demonstrate that history is a resource that helps us understand our own times,” said Brent Glass, the Museum’s Executive Director. “I am very pleased that NEH funding will enable us to explore some of the core issues of the humanities.” 

The Museum’s grant comes at a time when the Village of Ossining is undergoing a Comprehensive Plan that includes the Museum as part of its waterfront revitalization, economic development, and cultural and historic resources initiatives. 
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NEH Infrastructure and Capacity Building grants encourage private philanthropy to match federal funds and leverage private investment in the nation’s cultural institutions. The Museum is required to raise $1.1 million dollars to match NEH funding. 
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Sing Sing Prison's Legacy of Giving

5/5/2020

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Today is #GivingTuesdayNow, a new global day of giving and unity that is an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. 

In spite of its turbulent history, Sing Sing Correctional Facility has been a place that has inspired compassion and shared humanity. In the 1870s, Walt Whitman helped incarcerated men write letters to their families. In the 1930s, Warner Bros. studio donated a gymnasium to the prison. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa visited an AIDS ward at Sing Sing and advocated for hospice care.
 
The Sing Sing Prison Museum is honoring this legacy of giving by finding ways to support the incarcerated population and those working on the front lines. We're also thinking about the organizations - Hudson Link, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, the Osborne Association - that have made positive impacts within Sing Sing who now face new obstacles to provide their services. 

Here are some ways you can make an impact:
  • Give your voice to help raise awareness, lend your talents to give pro bono hours to a nonprofit who needs your expertise.
  • Donate money, supplies, Personal Protective Equipment - anything you can to organizations on the front lines of this pandemic. 
  • Show your support for local nonprofits who, despite COVID-19, are continuing to provide much needed services to the community.

You can show generosity in a variety of ways during #GivingTuesdayNow - whether it’s helping a neighbor, advocating for an issue, sharing a skill, or giving to causes, every act counts!

On the Front Lines

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Hudson Link is working with fellow members of the New York Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (NY-CHEP) to purchase re-usable, protective face masks for every man and woman incarcerated in New York State to help combat the spread of COVID-19. ​
The Osborne Association is raising money to give cell phones to people leaving prison to access virtual services and supports, fund phone accounts while visiting is suspended, and underwrite the cost of technology for their remote workforce.
Rehabilitation Through the Arts is sending lesson plans and materials to the men and women in the six facilities where they work with, so participants can continue to engage with the arts in meaningful ways.
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COVID-19

3/25/2020

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To Our Sing Sing Prison Museum Community, 
​

We wish to take this moment to connect with you while navigating these uncertain times and draw inspiration from our belief in the power of community.
 
One of the central goals of the Sing Sing Prison Museum is to have a positive impact on people who are incarcerated and their families, as well as the correction facility staff. As the spread of COVID-19 has intensified, we are dedicated to actively supporting efforts to respond to the critical challenge of reducing the spread of this disease within the correctional facility.  
 
We are in regular contact with Sing Sing’s Superintendent Mike Capra and have offered to help him and his staff who are, in his words, “doing everything to the best of our ability to mitigate exposure to this virus.”
 
We applaud the extraordinary efforts of organizations such as Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison and Rehabilitation Through the Arts who provide direct services to Sing Sing and other correctional facilities.  We encourage you to support their work.

 In addition, we recognize that our neighbors in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley and our friends in New York City, Connecticut, and New Jersey are facing an unprecedented challenge that threatens their lives and livelihoods.  The Museum is a part of this community and, as we build, we will be an anchor for the local and regional economy.  
 
Our mission is to tell the story of Sing Sing, to challenge all of us to reimagine America’s criminal justice system and to take action to build a better society.  We recognize that the COVID-19 crisis is an intensely human story that will have a profound and enduring impact on everyone.  Another chapter in Sing Sing’s history is being written. The Museum has the responsibility to document and share this history and provide the perspective of time to make sense of the unique challenges we all face today.

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Our well wishes to you all,

The Sing Sing Prison Museum Trustees and Staff
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​Babe Ruth Returns to Sing Sing

12/27/2019

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While our Museum may not be open yet, there’s always a lot of action going on as we work towards our goal of welcoming you all into our doors. This month we heard about an exciting item that was up for sale and acquired a baseball signed at Sing Sing Prison by the New York Yankees in 1929. We can confirm that it features the signatures of Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs and Bill Dickey.
 
With her extensive knowledge in auctions, Assistant Director Hilary Strimple led the effort to verify the baseball’s authenticity and was able to secure it during the bidding. We’re excited to have this item in our collection because it represents so much more than just celebrity and is linked to the story of prison reform.
 
Read more about baseball at Sing Sing Prison and the Mutual Welfare League here!
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Lyreacrompane Heritage Group Visits Sing Sing

2/7/2019

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TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Shane Harrington, Corinne Laurice (who had Just married), Joe Harrington, Lyreacrompane Heritage Group, Kay O'Leary, Lyreacrompane Heritage Group, James Harrington, Arthur M. Wolpinsky, Correction Officer, Jerry Faiella, Sing Sing Prison Museum Project Administrator, Stephanie Lynn, Sing Sing Prison Museum Vice Pres., Victoria Gearity, Ossining Village Mayor, Dana Levenberg, Ossining Town Supervisor, John P. Gilman, Lieutenant, John P. Mcmorrow, Lieutenant, PHOTOGRAPHY by Adam Ace
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PK Sheehy
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