Call Number:

MC.950.134

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

.01 linear ft. (1 folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Carter Nash correspondence (HC.MC.950.134), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1999-2000 (inclusive)

Creator:

Nash, Carter

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

This collection contains the letters of Carter Nash, a Quaker inmate of a federal correctional institution in Texarkana, Texas, to Special Collections at Haverford College, regarding his religious beliefs and requests for books. This correspondence took place from 1999 to 2000. Eventually, this correspondence led to his publication of a September 2000 column in the publication Quaker Life. A copy of the column is also included.

Carter Nash (dates unknown), a Quaker and member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, was serving a two-year prison sentence for an unknown crime in Unit G of Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana in Texarkana, Texas, during the time in which he conducted this correspondence, from 1999 to 2000.

Carter Nash (dates unknown) was serving a two-year prison sentence for an unknown crime in Unit G of Federal Correctional Institution Texarkana in Texarkana, Texas during the time in which he conducted this correspondence, from 1999 to 2000. Letters from Nash include lists of the dozens of books he requested from Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. He was given books from the collection of duplicates, with the condition that once he was finished with them, he donate them to a library.

Most of the collection is made up of a number of long letters, apparently copied from Nash's journal, regarding Nash's spiritual journey, and including reflections on the American prison system and social justice issues. Among the more dramatic moments in his journal are his descriptions of fasting and being told that he would be forcibly fed, as well as a "shake-down" of his locker in which he lost part of his journal.

In his letters, he mentions receiving works from Swarthmore College, trying to receive works from "the Pope" and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and being in correspondence with other Quaker organizations. Included is also a copy of a letter to Hillary Clinton, as well as a letter written to "several Christian organizations, including but not limited to some among, Mennonites, Brethren, Quakers and Catholics."

Copies of articles from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Economist on prison and prosecutorial corruption and misconduct are also included.