Garrett Heyns Collection, 1913-1991 | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

By Richard Harms, 1999

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Collection Overview

Title: Garrett Heyns Collection, 1913-1991

Predominant Dates:1935-1970

ID: COLL/348

Primary Creator: Heyns, Garrett (1891-1969)

Extent: 22.0 Cubic Feet. More info below.

Arrangement: Folder level description

Subjects: Criminals -- Rehabilitation., Heyns, Garrett, 1891-1969, Parole, Prison administration -- Michigan, Prison administration -- Washington (State), Prison labor, Prison psychology, Prisons - Officials and employees

Languages: English

Abstract

The collection details the various facets of the career of Garrett Heyns (1891-1969) including particularly his service for the Michigan Department of Corrections; his attempt at politics in West Michigan as a Democrat; his work in Washington, which includes raw data on his 1966 survey of the administrative situations in the fifty states and the District of Columbia; and his work on the Joint Commission on Correctional Manpower and Training during the 1960s. The material provides insight into the civil service reform efforts in Michigan during the mid 20th century, the development of education during the first half of the century, prison reforms, vocational training, and the status of penology.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Garret Heyns Collection houses the personal papers of Garret Heyns. This collection, which dates from 1913 – 1991, consists of correspondence, speeches, articles, reports, clippings, scrapbooks, and one 35mm film, evidencing Heyns’s career as a penologist. The material provides insight into the civil service reform efforts in Michigan during the mid 20^th century, the development of education during the first half of the century, prison reforms, vocational training, and the status of penology.

The ‘Biography, Incoming Correspondence, 1935-1969’ series consists of biographical sketches of Garrett Heyns as well as over 30 years of correspondence. This series also contains correspondence and materials related to Heyns’s 1936-1937 and 1939-1940 candidacy for Michigan’s 5^th district. Other topics documented by correspondence in this series include Heyns’s major career transitions as well as his retirement and condolences after his death. Heyns’s personal accounts of the years 1937-1957 are included in this series. The ‘Outgoing Correspondence’ series is much smaller than the previous series but covers the same time period.

The ‘Correspondence from and about Inmates’ series contains correspondence between Heyns and inmates from Michigan and Washington. Two other prison employees’ correspondence are also included in this series. This series provides insight into the prisoners’ experiences. The prisoners express their frustrations and desires in the correspondence and interviews with Heyns.

The ‘Date Books’ series is composed of Garrett Heyns’s datebooks from the years 1930 – 1969.

The ‘Awards, Obituaries, and Eulogies’ series contains the materials described in the title and notably includes Calvin College’s first Distinguished Alumni Award. These materials speak to Heyns’s achievements and legacy.

Though the bulk of the collection documents Heyns’ career as a penologist, the ‘Articles and Speeches, 1913-1965’ series contains papers Heyns wrote as a student at the University of Michigan and as an educator in Holland, Michigan. In several of these articles, Heyns reflects on the state of the world between World War I and World War II. The subject of war and its effect on the prison system appears in this collection from time to time. This series also contains speeches about recurrent themes in Heyns’s career such as prison education, prison employment and calls for a more passionate society.

The ‘Articles and Speeches on Corrections and Rehabilitation’ series contains speeches and articles that look forward to the future of corrections. The bulk of the materials in this series were written for an audience of penologists, but several speeches appear to be written for a more general audience with the objective of informing them about corrections and rehabilitation.

The ‘Administration and Organization’ series consists of mostly speeches and articles about prison administration. The series covers a broad range of topics related to prison administration but a considerable amount of materials are related to staff organization and the hiring and training of competent prison employees.

The materials in the ‘Articles and Speeches, 1937 – 1980’ were written during the span of Heyns’s penologist career. The materials in this series cover topics including juvenile delinquency, prison mental health programs, parole, probation, sex offenders, and capital punishment. This series also contains materials for penology and prison management courses at the University of Michigan and a course in Crime and Delinquency that was offered at Calvin College.

The ‘Associations and Congresses’ series contains correspondence, reports, and, programs from prison organizations and events. A manual for suggested standards for a state correctional system is also included in this series.

The ‘Michigan Department of Corrections’, ‘Michigan Reformatory’, and ‘Reports on the Michigan Department of Corrections’ series document Garrett Heyns’s time as the Warden of the warden of the Michigan Reformatory and the Michigan State Director of Corrections. This series is composed of reports, memos, financial reports, essays, surveys and studies. The bulk of the material in this series documents the operations of the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia and the Michigan Department of Corrections as a whole. It contains some materials related to programming at the Michigan Reformatory including a list of high school courses offered to inmmates and programs from plays put on in the institution. This series also contains a detailed history of corrections in the state of Michigan. The subjects of prison labor, prison education, inmate health, prison riots, and parole are heavily featured in this series.

Collection Historical Note

(1891-1969)

Garrett Heyns (21 September 1891, Allendale, MI - 3 November 1969, Olympia, WA) was an educator and later a penologist of some accomplishment. A lifelong scholar, Heyns wrote and spoke extensively, particularly on the theme that education was important to self-improvement and dealing with the problems of society. Both in Michigan and in the state of Washington he worked diligently providing academic and vocational training to prison inmates and finding employment for them prior to their release on parole.

The son of William Wynant Heyns and Henrietta Tien, Garrett Heyns completed the two-year educational program at Calvin College in 1911; obtained from the University of Michigan an AB in 1915, MA in 1916, and a PhD in 1928. He taught and served at schools in New Jersey, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan, and became the superintendent of the Holland, Michigan, Christian Schools in 1928. In 1937 he became the warden of the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, Michigan, and was then appointed State Director of Corrections. In 1957 he was appointed Director of the State of Washington Department of Institutions. On 25 December 1916 Heyns married Rosa Klooster of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had two children, Roger W. and Jacqueline J. (Rudeen).

Biographical Note

Subject/Index Terms

Criminals -- Rehabilitation.
Heyns, Garrett, 1891-1969
Parole
Prison administration -- Michigan
Prison administration -- Washington (State)
Prison labor
Prison psychology
Prisons - Officials and employees

Administrative Information

Repository: Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

Alternate Extent Statement: 44 Boxes

Access Restrictions: Collection open for research. Materials do not circulate.

Acquisition Source: Washington State Library

Preferred Citation: Preferred Citation: [item], folder, box, Garrett Heyns Collection, Heritage Hall (Hekman Library), Calvin University

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Biography, Incoming Correspondence, 1936-1969],
[Series 2: Outgoing Correspondence, 1936-1969],
[Series 3: Correspondence from and about Inmates, 1937-1967],
[Series 4: Date Books],
[Series 5: Awards, Obituaries, and Eulogies, 1959-1975],
[Series 6: Articles and Speeches, 1913-1965],
[Series 7: Articles and Speeches on Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1941-1968],
[Series 8: Administration and Organization, 1941-1968],
[Series 9: Articles and Speeches, 1937-1980],
[Series 10: Associations and Congresses, 1937-1968],
[Series 11: Michigan Department of Corrections, 1936-1957],
[Series 12: Michigan Reformatory; Ionia, Michigan, 1939-1961],
[Series 13: Reports on the Michigan Department of Corrections, 1938-1957],
[Series 14: Legislation and Proposed Legislation, 1929-1957],
[Series 15: Investigation of Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson, 1939-1949],
[Series 16: Washington State Institutions, 1956-1991],
[Series 17: States Responses of the District of Columbia to a "Survey on Administrative Situations in State Governments", 1966],
[Series 18: Background material for a study: "A Long Range Plan for the Colorado Division of Corrections,"; by Sharpe, Beto, and Heyns, 1968],
[Series 19: Joint Commission on correctional Manpower and Training, 1965-1969],
[Series 20: Unbound Reports of the Joint Commission, 1968],
[Series 21: Bound Reports of the Joint Commission, 1967-1970],
[Series 22: Michigan Inmates Newspapers],
[Series 23: News Clippings, Michigan],
[Series 24: News Clippings, Michigan and Washington State],
[Series 25: News Clippings, Washington State],
[Series 26: Publications, 1885-1886],
[Series 27: Addendum, 1912-1991],
[Series 28: Photographs],
[All]

Series 8: Administration and Organization --- 1941-1968

Box 13

Folder 1: "Coordinated Approach to Corrections" American Congress of Social Work Convention. Atlantic City, New Jersey --- 1941
Folder 2: "Three Soldiers in Step," American Prison Association Proceedings of 71st Congress of Correction, San Francisco --- 1941
Folder 3: Radio Talk WKAR, MSU, Lansing, Michigan --- 9/10/1942
Folder 4: Four writings and speeches on kinds of organization for Corrections Department --- undated
Folder 5: "Orientation Class," and "Orientation Process" --- 1943
Folder 6: "Prison Industries" --- 1943
Folder 7: "Practical Problems of Administration-a Summation," American Prison Association Proceedings of 73rd Congress of Corrections, New York --- 1943
Folder 8: Statement of president-elect of the American Prison Association in Proceedings of the 73rd Congress of Correction. New York --- 1943
Folder 9: "Planning for the Future," Prison World, November/December --- 1944
Folder 10: "Swords into Plowshares" presidential address, American Prison Association Proceedings of 75th Annual Congress of Correction, New York --- 1945
Folder 11: "How is Prison Labor to be Organized to Yield Moral Benefit and Social and Economic Return?" 12th International Penal and Penitentiary Congress, the Hague --- 1950
Folder 12: "Prison" Article for "Britannica Junior" --- 1952
Folder 13: "Merit System and the State Administration," 3rd Annual Institute of Government, Michigan Employees Association --- 1954
Folder 14: Speech: "What Types of Personnel-What Kind of Staff Organization Should Be Planned?" American Prison Association 84th Annual Congress of Corrections, Philadelphia --- 1954
Folder 15: "Prison Visiting," Encyclopedia of Criminology --- 1949 and 1955
Folder 16: "Updating Institutional Clarification Standards," speech to Revision Committee for a manual of suggested standards of the American Corrections Association --- 1957
Folder 17: "Supervision of Inmates' Relationships with Persons Outside the Adult Correctional Institution," proceedings of the 87th Congress of Corrections, American Correctional Association --- 1957
Folder 18: "State Organization of Classification," proceedings for 88th Congress; also reports of Workshop II --- 1957
Folder 19: "Adult Corrections in the Western States," for the American Correctional Association --- 1959
Folder 20: "Matter of Interrelationship between and among State Administrators and Institutional Heads," Correctional Administrators Association Proceedings of 80th annual Congress of Corrections, Denver. --- 8/31/1960
Folder 21: "Communications-Central Office to Institutions," article in Proceedings of 82nd Congress of Corrections, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania --- 9/1962
Folder 22: "Department of Institutions New Programs," Heyns report to directors --- 6/2/1964
Folder 23: "Philosophy of Administration-A Policy Statement," Dr. Wm. Conte, Division of Mental Health Department of Institutions Washington State --- 1965
Folder 24: "Patterns of Correction," article for National Council of Crime and Delinquency --- 7/1967
Folder 25: Notes and outlines of speeches and administration
Folder 26: "Competent Guards Recruitment" --- 1/12/1945
Folder 27: "The Characteristics and Qualifications of the Good Custodial Officer," from Proceedings of the 81st Annual Congress of Corrections. Biloxi, Mississippi --- 1961
Folder 28: "In Service Training," speech, Ames, Iowa --- 5/8/1957
Folder 29: "Training for What?" article in The Bulletin division of Mental Health --- 5/8/1957
Folder 30: "Strategies for State and Local Action in Using Field Placement in Correctional Settings." Montana State Institute, Utah Conference report --- 03/1964
Folder 31: "Closing Remarks," given at Pacific Coast Institute on Correctional Manpower and Training Union, Washington --- 1965
Folder 32: "Manpower Needs for the Helping Services-an Overview from an Institution Director's Position." Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Institute on Undergraduate for the Helping Services, Pocatello, Idaho --- 11/1965
Folder 33: "Problems of Staff Recruitment and Development." National Institute for Crime and Delinquency, Anaheim, California --- 06/1967
Folder 34: Speech on Manpower needs to deal with the problem of Juvenile delinquency, at National Governors' Conference on Juvenile Delinquency, Chicago --- 04/1967
Folder 35: "The Challenge of a Career in Corrections in a Changing Society." 1968 Institute of Adult Corrections. Washington State Department of Corrections
Folder 36: Notes for a speech on the traits of a good guard and for state police trainees