the videos...what can I say. I am documenting. I am not a documentarian. If you'd rather, I did take some notes of my experience. See Project notes. My visit was even more productive (and inspiring) than expected. And, I feel I must brag, the pictures are ones that I took.
The research and personal correspondence between Espy, Michael Radelet, and Hugo Bedau (whose work is also housed in the National Death Penalty Archive, NDPA) were my focus in the short amount of time I had. Everyone should be so fortunate to have friends who are as generous with their time, brilliant, and passionate about their work. Of course I was aware of their work before, but I have a (re)newed perspective. In addition to these great friends and scholars, there are the "other" persons responsible for the NDPA (see: https://www.albany.edu/news/releases/2005/aug2005/death_penalty.shtml), William J. Bowers, director of the Capital Jury Project; Scott Christianson; David Kaczynski, executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty; and CPRI co-directors Professor James Acker of the School of Criminal Justice and Charles Lanier.
I wish I could have met Gregory Wiedeman but I would like to take this opportunity to provide a citation I'm sure I'll be coming back to: https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/16963?trk=public_post_comment-text. It begins with "Archives are weird."
View from the back of the Science building where the archives are housed. You have to admit, that first panoramic I took was pretty good.
As per website, "The Victor L. Streib Papers. This series contains a file for every execution or sentence of death given to a woman or a juvenile that was known to Victor L. Streib. Some of the case study files are simply photocopies of Watt Espy's research cards, especially in cases where Espy's research is the sum total information available that particular execution." This was very helpful in my research and I was able to update V0 to contain citations that will allow me to fill in a lot of missing blanks.
Note the full citation for each of the listed is on the website. For June Champion, for example, the full citation is: Alabama: June, executed 1860, Undated, box 1, folder 40, Victor L. Streib Papers, 1908-2012, Undated. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York. Given that the website does not contain scans, I do not include the website information itself (in June's case, https://archives.albany.edu/description/catalog/apap330aspace_787fbb22b1eec42e49e95f26039a5ccd ). For simplicity, I only provide the box and folder number for each person. If I found a source contained within a folder particularly helpful, it was listed in V32 or in the "additional references" sheet. Otherwise, it can be assumed that the resources used to code that person's execution came from the folders listed. Again, unless otherwise noted, these folders were copies of Espy paper materials. I did find the organization most helpful, however, given that all information for one person could generally be located in one folder rather than being referred elsewhere.
The archives are located on the third floor of the Science library. The architecture throughout was unlike any university I have seen so far.
To the students of South, That is their bell tower!
It was an absolute honor to meet the people at the archives who were incredibly gracious and accommodating. To finally speak with some of the people whose work I've been admiring from afar was one of the best experiences in this journey. Thank you and hope to see you soon. Thank you, Jodi! Thank you, Melissa!
And thank you, Colin, for having coffee with me. I hope you will forgive the informality of the first names. I'm trying not to shamelessly name-drop.... too obviously. Your suggestions, insights, and advice will be heeded though I suspect I'll need to return soon. The visit was too brief, and the collection is impressive.
Picture to the right is me waiting for the bus. The area is, however, walkable.