International Prisoners Aid Association Records, 1910-1973
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Summary Information
Title: International Prisoners Aid Association Records
Inclusive Dates: 1910-1973

Creator:
  • International Prisoners Aid Association
Call Number: Micro 818

Quantity: 14 reels of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:
Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:
COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:
Records of an international organization of volumtary prisoners' aid societies concerned with prison reform and with the rehabilitation and treatment of former prisoners. Although IPAA was formed in 1910, the records date primarily from the 1950s and 1960s. Those records which predate that period relate to activities in the United States when the group was known as the National Prisoners' Aid Association. Correspondence, which comprises over 4 reels, ranges from letters from inmates to exchanges with member agencies. Corporate records comprise another 4 reels and include articles of incorporation, minutes, conference papers, financial records, reports, and officers' files of both the IPAA and the NPAA. The remainder are subject files on miscellaneous IPAA projects, files on the Correctional Service Federation, and files relating to the preparation of the IPAA newsletter.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0818
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Biography/History

The National Prisoners' Aid Association was organized at the International Prison Congress in Washington, D.C. in 1910. Prior to that time, rehabilitation programs for former prisoners had been carried on by the Committee on Discharged Prisoners of the American Prison Association. The objective of the National Prisoners' Aid Association was to further the development of improved correctional service through “...extension of work for prisoners including prison visitation, inspection of correctional institutions, assistance to prisoners, probation, parole, legislation, research and public education of the problems of penology and criminology....” The NPAA evolved from an individual membership association to an agency membership organization, and operated from its inception through these voluntary prisoners' aid societies rather than directly with individual prisoners.

By 1950, several Canadian prisoners' aid agencies had affiliated with the American national association. In recognition of the Canadian agencies and in anticipation of prisoners' aid groups from other countries making a similar move to unite with them, the association changed its name to the International Prisoners' Aid Association. The society flourished. In 1963, the individual agencies in the United States who were members of the association, merged into a single national organization and participated in the IPAA as a group from that date. The new U.S. organization was known as the Correctional Service Federation, U.S.A., and shared administrative offices with the International Prisoners' Aid Association at Milwaukee. Ruth (Mrs. John G.) Parsons Baker of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, served as executive director for both associations as well as assistant superintendent and then superintendent of the Wisconsin Service Association (formerly the Society for the Friendless, Wisconsin Division).

In 1964, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations granted the International Prisoners' Aid Association advisory status as a non-governmental organization to be consulted on matters pertaining to the rehabilitation and treatment of former prisoners.

The headquarters of the International Prisoners' Aid Association was moved in 1973 to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it had been located since 1950.

The following is a listing of IPAA member agencies and organizations as of 1970:

MEMBER AGENCIES

  • Bureau of Rehabilitation, Washington, D.C.
  • Colorado Prison Association, Denver, Colorado
  • Connecticut Prison Association, Hartford, Connecticut
  • John Howard Association, Chicago, Illinois
  • John Howard Association of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Minnesota Prisoners Aid Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • New York Friends Center, New York, New York
  • Northern California Service League, San Francisco, California
  • The Osborne Association, New York, New York
  • The Pennsylvania Prison Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Personal Aid Bureau, Jewish Family Service, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • The Prisoners' Aid Society, Inc., Dayton, Ohio
  • The Prisoners Aid Society of Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware
  • The Prisoners' Aid Association of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
  • The Prison Association of New York, New York, New York
  • Special Social Services, Inc., New York, New York
  • Social Rehabilitation Department, Jewish Family Service, New York, New York
  • St. Louis Bureau for Men, St. Louis, Missouri
  • United Prison Association of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts
  • The Women's Prison Association of New York, New York, New York
  • Wisconsin Service Association, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • John Howard Society of Alberta, Calgary, Alberta
  • The John Howard Society of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • The John Howard Society of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
  • John Howard Society of Quebec, Montreal, Quebec
  • The John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • The Salvation Army, Toronto, Ontario
  • Society D'Orientation et de Rehabilitation Sociale, Montreal, Quebec
  • The Andhra Pradesh Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society, Hyderabad, A.P., India
  • The National Association of Discharged Prisoners Aid Societies, London, England (until 1963)

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS, 1969-1970
  • All India Crime Prevention Society
  • Association for Christian Help to Prisoners, Argentina
  • Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (Quebec Division), Canada
  • Australian Crime Prevention, Correction and Aftercare Council
  • Cairo Prisoners Aid Association, U.A.R.
  • Civil Rehabilitation Agency, Korea
  • Correctional Service Federation - U.S.A.
  • Danish Welfare Society
  • Federal Union of Offenders Aid Association, Austria
  • Federation of Norwegian Rehabilitation Societies
  • Federation of Offenders Aid Associations, West Germany
  • Guild of St. Philip, Ireland
  • Hong Kong Discharged Prisoners Aid Society
  • Japan Rehabilitation Aid Association
  • John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba, Canada
  • John Howard Society of Alberta, Canada
  • John Howard Society of Ontario, Canada
  • League of Societies for the Rehabilitation of Offenders in Israel
  • National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), England
  • National Bureau for Probation Services, Netherlands
  • National Council of Social Services Association of South Africa
  • New Zealand Prisoners' Aid and Rehabilitation Society (Inc.)
  • Prisoners' Aid Association, Iceland
  • Probation Assistance Association, Inc., West Germany
  • Patronato Paro Liberados, Mexico
  • Singapore After-Care Association
  • Society for the Protection of Prisoners, Iran
  • Taiwan After-Care Association, The Republic of China

Scope and Content Note

The collection primarily consists of correspondence created during the 1950s and 1960s. Records for the final fifteen years that the organization was known as the National Prisoners' Aid Association (1935-1950) are included, but there are none for the early years of its existence, except for a copy of the 1910 constitution.

The collection contains a history of the organization, corporate records, correspondence, miscellaneous files, newsletters, and the records of the Correctional Service Federation. The original arrangement of the files has been maintained, and correspondence is scattered throughout the collection with the appropriate subject files.

Included in the CORPORATE RECORDS are the articles of organization, the constitutions and by-laws of both the IPAA and the NPAA, minutes, and papers regarding the annual membership and board of directors meetings. This series also contains financial records and related correspondence, officers and committee reports, and files of correspondence and papers of the president and president-designate.

The CORRESPONDENCE series has been arranged by agency or class of individual requesting information or assistance from IPAA. Sections include general correspondence; inquiries from prison inmates, from students requesting information about prisons, and from schools of social work; and correspondence with member and other agencies. Included with the papers of the member agencies are also brochures, reports, and other related material.

The MISCELLANEOUS FILES contain items relating to special projects of IPAA, such as articles, speeches and brochures (including speeches of the Wisconsin Service Association), research and studies conducted on prison reform and offender rehabilitation, tours, and the United Nations' Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The files include correspondence regarding these various activities, reports, drafts and copies of published papers, programs, essays by school children and by prisoners, and directories of prisoners' aid agencies.

Within each folder of the NEWSLETTERS series is located a single issue of the monthly newsletter, with accompanying notes, rough drafts of articles, and correspondence pertaining to that issue. An extensive run of IPAA newsletters, some of which are not represented in the files in this series, has been separated to the Historical Library.

A few folders of papers of the CORRECTIONAL SERVICE FEDERATION, which was formed in 1963, and represents U.S. member agencies of the IPAA, are also included in the collection. Among these papers are organizational records and correspondence.

The entire collection has been microfilmed for preservation.

Administrative/Restriction Information
Acquisition Information

Presented by Ruth Parsons Baker, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1965, 1973, and by Ruth and John Baker, 1976.


Contents List
Reel   1
Frame   1-3
Series: History
Reel   1
Frame   4-31
Series: Corporate Records, 1910-1973
⇧
Reel   1
Frame   32-53
Articles of Organization and Official Papers of Incorporation
Minutes, 1946-1972
Reel   1
Frame   54-149
Annual Meetings, 1946-1972
Reel   1
Frame   150-229
Board of Directors Meetings, 1946-1970
Related Conference Papers, 1937-1965
Reel   1
Frame   230-968
Annual Meetings, 1937-1965
Board of Directors Meetings, 1953-1966
Reel   1
Frame   969-1032
1953-1958
Reel   2
Frame   1-243
1959-1966
Reel   2
Frame   244-532
Regional Meetings, 1958-1963
Financial Records
Reel   2
Frame   533-553
General Files
Reel   2
Frame   554-630
Correspondence, 1960-1970
Reel   2
Frame   631-656
Membership Files
Reel   2
Frame   657-690
Reports of Officers, 1960-1972
Committee Reports
Reel   2
Frame   691-1056
Bibliography - Committee to Review Manual of Suggested Standards
Reel   3
Frame   1-281
Committee to Review Manual of Suggested Standards - Miscellaneous
Files of the President and President-Designate, 1951-1968
Reel   3
Frame   282-1022
1951 (Edmison) - , 1959, August (Hubanks)
Reel   4
Frame   1-747
, 1958 (Zeman) - , 1968 (Bacon)
Reel   4
Frame   748-754
Other Papers
Series: Correspondence, 1935-1970
⇧
General, 1935-1970
Reel   4
Frame   755-1001
1935-1946, December
Reel   5
Frame   1-1023
1947-1970, April
Reel   6
Frame   1-89
Inquiries from Inmates, 1953-1965
Reel   6
Frame   90-181
Students, 1952-1964
Reel   6
Frame   182-209
Schools of Social Work, 1960
American Member Agencies, 1946-1970
Reel   6
Frame   210-1463
Bureau of Rehabilitation, Washington - The Osborne Association, NY
Reel   7
Frame   1-699
PACE-The Women's Prison Association of New York
Foreign Member and Other Agencies
Reel   7
Frame   700-1080
All India Crime Prevention Society - John Howard Society of Alberta
Reel   8
Frame   1-705
John Howard Society of Ontario - Society for the Protection of Prisoners, Iran
Series: Miscellaneous Files
⇧
Reel   8
Frame   706-781
Agency Members Papers
Reel   8
Frame   782-994
Articles and Speeches
Reel   9
Frame   1-338
Articles and Speeches, continued
Reel   9
Frame   339-429
Brochures
Reel   9
Frame   430-523
Conference in Australia, 1960, May
Reel   9
Frame   524-1054
Directories, 1951-1952 (not in chronological order)
Reel   10
Frame   1-250
Essay Contests
Reel   10
Frame   251-320
Projects
Reel   10
Frame   321-502
Reports and Studies
Reel   10
Frame   503-593
Tours
United Nations
Reel   10
Frame   594-948
Correspondence
Reel   10
Frame   949-1018
UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, 1960
Series: Newsletters
⇧
Reel   11
Frame   1-1035
1946, September-1957, April
Reel   12
Frame   1-1000
1957, July-1960, July
Reel   13
Frame   1-1041
1960, November-1969, August
Reel   14
Frame   1-498
1969, November-1973, March-April
Series: Correctional Service Federation
⇧
Reel   14
Frame   499-525
Organizational Papers
Reel   14
Frame   526-661
Correspondence, 1960-1963