Reed and Fibre Department, Handcraft Furniture Co., State Penitentiary, Lincoln
Description
The interior view of a workshop in this 6-1/2" x 4" black and white plate shows furniture at various stages of creation. Wicker chairs sit to the left and tables to the right. Pots for holding water to soak reeds sit at intervals down the center of the room. Lengths of reed and frames hang from the ceilings.
Contributors
Nebraska. Board of Commissioners of State Institutions
Excerpted from: "Twenty-fourth Biennial Report of the Warden of the State Penitentiary, Lincoln, Nebraska" In Second Biennial Report of the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions to the Governor and Legislature of the State of Nebraska for the Biennium Ending November 30, 1916 (Lincoln: Nebraska Board of Commissioners of State Institutions, 1914), plate between pp. 360-361.
Historical Notes
The industrial department of the State Penitentiary was commercially known as the Handcraft Furniture Company and opened May 25, 1915. By the end of the biennium, 132 inmates were employed in this department. By November 30, 1916, total sales of $61,517 had been made throughout the Midwestern and southern states. Inmates wages ranged from 10 cents to 25 cents per day based on efficiency.
Nebraska Library Commission
