During his later retirement years, John N. Miskell (above) generously made available to this NYCHS website many of his writings, photographs, newspaper clippings and other materials amassed as Auburn Prison educational director and as a corrections historian. After his death, his family made available additional materials. All rights retained and reserved.

Thanks:
Eileen McHugh,
Mike Pettigrass,
& Arcadia
Publishing


Click to access more about the book.

The above image is derived from cover of Cayuga Museum of History and Art exec director Eileen McHugh's Auburn Correctional Facility, an Arcadia Publishing "Images of America" book that uses 200+ vintage photos to tell the tale of America's oldest continually-operated prison. Proceeds from sales, that officially began May 10, 2010, benefit the museum.


Thank you, Eileen, Mike and Arcadia for working together and putting together your (and now ours) Images of America: Auburn Correctional Facility book.

Thank you, Eileen, Mike and Arcadia for including in your "Acknowledgments" a mention of our website and of its John N. Miskell pages:

No history of Auburn Prison can be discussed without acknowledging the work of John Miskell . . . John Miskell's extensive writings on the history of Auburn Prison can be read of the extraordinary New York Correction History Web site, maintained by Thomas McCarthy, www.correctionhistory.org . . . .

Bio Notes
Eileen McHugh is the director of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art and Auburn city historian. She has drawn upon the museum's extensive photographic archives to create a moving visual history of the prison.

Michael Pettigrass is a correction counselor in the guidance unit at Auburn Correctional Facility. His interest in the prison's rich history has led him to serve, for many years, as the unofficial historian of the facility.

Because the book's more than 200 vintage photos have been judiciously selected to convey the many varied aspects of the Auburn Prison story, Images of America: Auburn Correctional Facility is destined to become an indispensable addition to the library of any serious student of correction history of New York -- indeed, correction history of America. For the penitentiary system that emerged from that institution on Cayuga's Owasco River set the pattern adopted and adapted by much of the rest of the country for its penal establishments.

While many heavy volumes with massive texts have been published about Auburn Prison, this 127-page book's pictures are worth more than 200,000 words. For the current image-oriented generations, it can serve as an excellent visual introduction to the poignantly painful saga of penology's perennial hopes and seemingly inevitable disappointments.

In the weeks and months to come, this website will seek to add text and photo excerpts from Eileen, Mike and Arcadia's Images of America: Auburn Correctional Facility book.

Below are links to some of the John N. Miskell's Auburn Prison history writings and materials on our www.correctionhistory.org website.

To
NYCHS
Home
Page
To John N. Miskell's
'Executions in
Auburn Prison:
1890-1916'
To John N. Miskell's
'Why Auburn?
Prison & Community
Relationship'
To John N. Miskell's
'Offering Hope:
Auburn Seminary,
Prison Connection'
To John N. Miskell's
'Medal of Honor
Rite at Auburn
Inmate Grave'
To John N. Miskell's
'Long Watch
of Copper
John'
To John Miskell's The Bell: Auburn Prison.
To John Miskell's Better Than a Hanging.
To a 3-part presentation a 1970 DOCS Centennial booklet
100 Years of Progress in the New York State Correctional System.
From John Miskell's collection of historical materials. He may have had a hand in putting it together. Besides images from the booklet, the 3-part presentation includes vintage photos from Miskell archives scrapbook.