Murder Scrapbooks

Results

These transcriptions will soon be added to our database, making these items and the information more discoverable to everyone!

This collection has national research opportunities that could reveal new findings about the ways law enforcement responded to crimes over time; the effect of societal change on laws and the justice system; the role of newspaper sensationalism on criminal trials; public perceptions of crimes and criminals; and the impact of economic change, social conditions, and immigration trends in relation to crime. There is great potential to use past statistics and analysis to speak to current topics, such as social justice, race relations, or community stereotypes. The ledgers are also untapped resources for those seeking genealogical information about criminals and/or victims.

The searchability of this collection has the potential to make connections to other collections in History Colorado's care as well. Through the process of digitizing the Sam Howe ledgers, a newspaper article image found in the second Murder Book was successfully matched to a photograph found in the Fred Mazzulla collection. Thanks to this connection and the information that the article provides, the photograph in the Mazzulla collection now has context, background, and metadata able to be applied to its record.

The Sam Howe collection has been referenced in the book Hell's Belles: Prostitution, Vice, and Crime in Early Denver by Clark Secrest. This book provides a biography of Sam Howe and discusses the importance of his work. Inside, you will find black-and-white scans of some of the photographs and materials present in the collection. The full digitization of the Sam Howe books will create a connection to this work. Readers of Hell's Belles will be able to access the collection to see high-resolution scans of the materials discussed.