This hand-colored lithograph shows a view looking past farmland to the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania. In the foreground, two boys sit in a fenced pasture in which cows graze near sheds and an enclosed pond with ducks swimming on it. In the background, a farm is visible in front of the prison at which a carriage is parked and a man rides on horseback. The penitentiary was built in 1823–36 after the designs of John Haviland and opened in an unfinished state in 1829. Located at 2101–99 Fairmount ...

This print is a bird's eye view of the prison built in 1823–36 at 2101–99 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, after the designs of John Haviland. It shows the prison designed with radial corridors, courtyards, and a Gothic-style entranceway and outer wall. It was also known as Cherry Hill State Prison and was one of the largest and most expensive structures of its day. It was most unusual in having flush toilets and heating in the cells. A horse-drawn wagon is visible within, and another, probably a paddy wagon ...

This document is a membership certificate for the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. The society was founded in 1787 by prominent Philadelphia citizens, including Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Benjamin Rush, with the aim of correcting abuses in the city jail. The lithograph contains a vignette with a portrait bust of Bishop White, the long-time president of the organization, and a bird's-eye view of the buildings and grounds of Eastern State Penitentiary. The paragraph at the bottom describes this institution, also known as Cherry Hill State ...