# United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas: Birdseye View of Penitentiary (Department of Justice album)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-99904437-leavenworth-birdseye-view/

A mounted bird's-eye view of the Leavenworth penitentiary complex from the Department of Justice album, ca. 1900 to ca. 1925. The scan shows an illustration of the buildings and grounds, not an aerial photograph.

The catalog title is "United States Penitentiary - Leavenworth, Kansas: Birdseye View of Penitentiary." It is one mounted print from the Department of Justice album of views of the Atlanta and Leavenworth penitentiaries, two of the three penitentiaries that, according to the Bureau of Prisons, the Three Prisons Act of 1891 authorized. The scan shows a bird's-eye drawing or rendering of the penitentiary complex, with a large central building, wings and enclosing walls on open ground, under the caption; it is not an aerial photograph.

The mount carries a typed caption in English and Spanish; the English line reads "Birdseye View of Penitentiary." The catalog dates the series "ca. 1900 - ca. 1925" and the item carries no date of its own, so no year is claimed for this view. The local identifier is 60-AL-17; the original is a large JPEG of about 36 MB, and the stored copy is smaller. The scan shows the whole album page, including a green glove at one edge.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/99904437
- National Archives series: Album of Views of the Penitentiaries at Atlanta and Fort Leavenworth (NAID 518093): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/518093