Browse Items (22278 total)

Several men, maybe newly released prisoners, celebrate with warden Joseph E. Ragen. Ragan served as warden for twenty-five years (1936-1961). His administration was known for its strict order and the productivity of its prison industries.

The inmate swing band, the Stateville Aces, plays a tune. On verso: "On August 24th, inmates of the Stateville prison at Joliet, Illinois will present a vaudeville show as part of the program for visiting past commanders of local American Legion…

Oxygen or flight mask testing at Stateville.

An officer draws blood from a prisoner. This image may depict part of an experimentation process. During World War II, Stateville was the scene of U.S. Army malaria experiments, during which physicians observed the disease's effects by deliberately…

Prisoners eat a meal in one of Stateville's roundhouses as guards observe them.

Prisoner manufactured license plates were just one of many products produced at Stateville, which included a furniture factory, textile mill, and sheet-metal plant.

A prisoner operates a textile machine at the Stateville textile mill.

Menard contained one of the three electric chairs used for executions in Illinois. The other chairs were located at Stateville and the Cook County Jail in Chicago.

A prisoner and an armed guard pose at the west gate entrance.

Guards line up prisoners in the cell house in preparation for Sunday dinner.

A prisoner takes a cigarette break amidst potted plants and caged birds.

A Navy recruit uses a jackknife to carve a piece for a model ship.

Navy recruits learn to tie knots.

Navy recruits form to create a live version of their base insignia and to celebrate reaching 100,000 recruits trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station during World War I.

Sailors undergo diving training.

Girls drum corps marches in formation while being reviewed by Navy personnel.

Soldiers onboard a transport ship.

1st Illinois Cavalry, Troop L, in saber drill at Brownsville, Texas.

Two gentleman practice aeroplane instruction on models at an unknown location.

An advertisement from the U.S. government calls on women to preserve material and save money to help the country during World War I.

A World War I advertisement calls on those who are not serving their country to fulfill their duty by purchasing War Saving Stamps.

This book details the efforts made during World War I to send reading materials to soldiers, sailors, and marines fighting overseas. The author, Theodore Wesley Koch, a librarian in the Library of Congress during World War I, assisted in the efforts…

An advertisement from the American Red Cross seeks aid from the people of Sangamon County for "Our boys at the front" during World War I.

The exterior of Reverie, a Grand Trunk Railway car, likely Grand Trunk Western Railway, which operated out of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Other major subsidiaries of Grand Trunk Railway included, Central Vermont Railway (Quebec, Vermont,…

Union and Central Pacific Pullman railroad car, "Pyramid." The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman in 1862, built luxury railroad cars to help improve the experience of its passengers.