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Karen A. Reixach Prison Reform Papers
Notifications
Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Karen Adkinson Reixach was born in 1944, the daughter of Burton Wilbur Adkinson and Margaret Klock Adkinson of Washington, D.C. She attended Grinnell College and earned a masters degree in English from the University of Chicago. In 1968 she married Rene Henry Reixach, Jr. She joined the Society of Friends in 1973, received by request at Scarsdale Monthly Meeting. Later that year she and her husband moved to Rochester, N.Y., and she transferred her membership to Rochester Monthly Meeting.
A Quaker meeting for worship was established at Auburn Prison in 1974, and in 1975, it became a preparative meeting under Scipio-Farmington Regional Meeting. As a representative of Rochester Monthly Meeting, Karen Reixach served on the Auburn Prison Friends Meeting Oversight Committee until December 1975. In February 1977 meeting for worship began at Attica Prison. She served as clerk of the Attica Oversight Committee until 1984. She also served on the New York Yearly Meeting Prison Committee from 1977 to 1987, Rochester Prison Committee until 1986, the Friends Committee on National Legislation in 1984, and NYYM Witness Coordinating Committee in 1984 (and again in 2000 and 2003) as well as being active in Alternatives to Violence Program.
While working with Auburn and Attica Prison meetings, she attended the University of Rochester and received a M.S. in public policy. She also worked as the Project Coordinator for Safe Start Rochester, Children's Institute, a Monroe County organization designed to help children exposed to violence.
Contains correspondence, minutes, and other papers concerning Karen A. Reixach's work with Quaker worship groups at Auburn Prison and Attica Prison in New York State. She was active in prison reform and Quaker outreach, serving as representative from Rochester Monthly Meeting and clerk of the Oversight Committee at Attica Prison.
Organized into two series:
- Correspondence, minutes and related papers
- Miscellaneous
Donor: New York Yearly Meeting, 1997
Transferred from the Haviland Record Room in 1997 as part of the transfer of New York Yearly Meeting records to Friends Historical Library. When New York Yearly Meeting Prison Committee Records were processed in the summer of 2006, it was decided that Karen Reixach's papers containing her work on prison reform should be an independent collection. The papers were received in folders which included correspondence and other papers; this order was maintained, with the folders placed roughly in chronological order and described in the finding aid.
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.
Collection Inventory
Includes Committee minutes, Rochester Prison Committee minutes, etc.
Physical Description1 folder
Mostly minutes
Physical Description1 folder
Reports
Physical Description1 folder
Reports on the Meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Concerning Attica and Auburn Prison meetings
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence and related papers
Physical Description1 folder
Minutes, correspondence
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence with inmates, prison officials, other Friends concerning Indulged Meeting at Attica
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence concerning fighting among inmates
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence with inmates, prison officials, other Friends concerning Indulged Meeting at Attica
Physical Description1 folder
Includes minutes from Attica Indulged Meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence concerning problems with worship directives at Attica, call list
Physical Description1 folder
Primarily about regulations limiting visits by female volunteers
Physical Description1 folder
Oversight Committee: Includes minutes, visitor info for Auburn, other prison reform organizations
Physical Description1 folder
Reixach correspondence
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence
Physical Description1 folder
Minutes
Physical Description1 folder
Annual reports to Rochester Monthly Meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Guidelines
Physical Description1 folder
Status of Auburn
Physical Description1 folder
Concerning Auburn Prison Meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Documents from N.Y. Department of Corrections
Physical Description1 folder
Mainly attendance lists, some correspondence
Physical Description1 folder
Structure of business meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Reference file
Physical Description1 folder
Financial report
Physical Description1 folder
Guidelines, queries, advice from New York Yearly Meeting
Physical Description1 folder
Includes NYYM Prison Committee minutes
Physical Description1 folder
Written by NYYM Prison Committee
Physical Description1 folder
Workshops, address list, etc.
Physical Description1 folder