Previous Artifacts - May 2010
Issues of The Messenger Magazine 1935-1993
This month's artifact is a collection of The Messenger magazines, which was recently donated to the Siouxland Heritage Museums. The Messenger magazine was published monthly, and later quarterly, by the inmates of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls until 1993 and was distributed nation-wide. The magazine included articles, editorials, short stories, and poems all written by inmates and staff of the penitentiary. This publication offered outsiders a unique glimpse into the lives of the inmates at the State Penitentiary and showed their perspectives on a number of different international, national, and local issues of the time. It also provided a sense of camaraderie amongst prisoners held in other state prisons. Through this donation, we received multiple issues spanning from 1930s to 1993, but we are still missing many issues printed from 1952-1959, 1963-1965 and most of 1967, 1989, and all issues published prior to 1935. If you have any of these magazines that you would like to donate please contact the Collection Department at 367-4210.
