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Carl Panzram Papers; Box 1, Virtual Folder 1: Panzram's Autobiographical Manuscript

 Digital Record
Identifier: ms-0007.01.01

Dates

  • Digitized: 1928-1929

Creator

Summary Note

Panzram’s autobiographical manuscript details his various crimes including larceny, robbery, burglary, murder, and sodomy; as well as the abuses he received in reform school, jail, and prison.  He lists the types of torture devices and techniques used in prisons, and writes about various plans he thought of to kill people.  He also often theatrically describes a crime or event, and then provides the reader with information on how to verify its authenticity.  Of particular interest are Panzram's justifications and explanations for his behavior.  He blames his treatment in reform school and prison for his violent actions outside of those institutions.  Since Panzram wrote his autobiography a few pages at a time and gave it to Lesser incrementally, not all pages are numbered consecutively and the exact original order is unknown.

Rights Statement Note

The copyright interests in some of these materials have been transferred to or belong to San Diego State University. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish.  Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. When citing this collection, Henry Lesser must be cited as the donor.

Physical Description Note

361 loose leaves of lined paper

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections & University Archives Repository

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