# United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas: View of Unfinished Front of the Penitentiary (Department of Justice album)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-99904443-leavenworth-unfinished-front/

Plate 18 of the Department of Justice album of the Atlanta and Leavenworth penitentiaries, ca. 1900 to ca. 1925, captioned "View of unfinished front of the penitentiary." The photograph looks down a fenced walk across open ground to the long front of the penitentiary, with a taller central block, a guard tower at the right, a telegraph pole and a small sign by a dirt road in the foreground.

The catalog title is "United States Penitentiary - Leavenworth, Kansas: View of Unfinished Front of the Penitentiary," local identifier 60-AL-18. It is plate 18 of the Department of Justice album of views of the penitentiaries at Atlanta and Leavenworth, two of the first three United States penitentiaries. The page is headed "UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY--LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS." and the caption reads, in English and Spanish, "View of unfinished front of the penitentiary." / "Vista del frente de la prision (incompleto.)"

The photograph looks down a fenced walk across open ground to the long front of the penitentiary, with a taller central block, a guard tower at the right, a telegraph pole and a small sign by a dirt road in the foreground.

The catalog dates the series "ca. 1900 - ca. 1925," and the item carries no date of its own, so no year is claimed. The series description says the album documents phases of construction and includes "a few photos of the prisoners." No prisoner or officer is named.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog, General Records of the Department of Justice (RG 60), Album of Views of the Penitentiaries at Atlanta and Fort Leavenworth: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/99904443
- National Archives series: Album of Views of the Penitentiaries at Atlanta and Fort Leavenworth (NAID 518093): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/518093