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Downtime Project Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: DTF
Date: 10 Jun 2021

Biographical History

The Downtime Project was initiated by the Man On The Street (MOTS) Library, a repository established by Alan Wahlstrom in 1988 that aimed to collect and preserve stories from common people. Wahlstrom defined it as "a repository where anyone at all, regardless of whom, could place their words, art, ideas, opinions...whatever... for the public to free[ly] access." At the end of 1991, MOTS Library started the Downtime Project, requesting submissions from incarcerated Americans that documented their life as prisoners. The library received hundreds of submissions from across the United States.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Downtime Project Collection contains writings and artwork submitted by incarcerated individuals across the United States. Some contributors submitted writings regarding their thoughts and reflections on prison life. Others offered details about their arrests and convictions. Some contributors maintained their innocence, arguing the need for a retrial. A few contributors submitted their court records, usually to support their case they had been wrongly convicted. Others submitted their original poetry, song lyrics, or short stories, not all of which focused on prison life. Some inmates submitted artwork or decorated their envelopes with detailed drawings.

Prisons represented in the collection cover the entire United States, with significant contributions from the Midwestern and West regions of United States. Contributors were primarily male, with only a handful of submissions from women inmates. Contributors had been convicted for a wide variety of crimes, including murder, drug dealing, and larceny. Some contributors were on Death Row for their crimes. Wahlstrom was known to inmate contributors only as "A.W." In some instances, Wahlstrom engaged in ongoing personal communication and conversation with contributors, some of which is included within various submissions.

Please note that this collection contains material that some researchers may find objectionable due to racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, violent, or other harmful language and/or imagery. This material is preserved and retained with the collection for its historic and research value.

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is arranged alphabetically by contributor's last name.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

Downtime Project.

Subjects

Imprisonment.
Poetry.
Prison fiction.
Prison system.
Prison violence.
Prisoners -- Personal narratives.
Prisoners as artists.
Prisoners' writings, American.
Prisons -- United States.
Women prisoners.

Genres and Forms

Cartoons (humorous images)
Correspondence.
Criminal court records.
Drawings (visual works)
Lyric poetry.
Magazines (periodicals)
Poetry.
Short stories.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Downtime Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Alan Wahlstrom, 2021.

Table of Contents

Submissions

Inventory