Rhoda M. Coffin, "Some Account of the Origin and Conduct of the Woman's Prison and Girls' Reformatory at Indianapolis, Indiana" account
Collection — Folder: S0278
Identifier: S0278
Scope and Contents
This collection includes six copies of an typed transcript of an essay titled, "Some Account of the Origin and Conduct of the Woman's Prison and Girls' Reformatory at Indianapolis, Indiana," written by Rhoda M. Coffin on February 14, 1902, in Chicago, Illinois. The article discusses Coffin and her husband's experience visiting jails, workhouses, and prisons thorughout the United States and her involvement with the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls, which became the Indiana Woman's Prison and Indiana Girls' School.
Dates
- 1902/02/14
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Historical Note
Rhoda Moorman Johnson was born on February 1, 1826 to John and Judith (Faulkner) Johnson in Greene County, Ohio. Her family were Quakers from Lynchburg, Virginia, who moved to Waynesville, Ohio when she was young. Johnson first met Charles Fisher Coffin in 1842 at the Indiana Yearly Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. They met again when she attended the Whitewater Monthly Meeting School in Richmond in 1845. The couple were married in 1847 in Waynesville, Ohio, and they had six children: Elijah, Charles Henry, Francis Albion, William Edward, Mary Amelia, and Percival Brooks. The Coffins lived in Richmond, Indiana, where Charles was a banker working under his father at a branch of the State Bank of Indiana (later Richmond National Bank). The couple were active in Quaker affairs and humanitarian causes, including temperance and prison reform. They founded the South Fifth (later South Eight) Street Friends Meeting in 1864.
Rhoda Coffin helped found the Home for Friendless Women in Richmond in the 1860s to provide a home for women and children with nowhere else to go. Due to its success, she was asked to consult on establishment of other such shelters in other towns and cities in Indiana. Coffin was recorded as a Society of Friends minister in 1867 and she and her husband--who had served on a commission to establish the House of Refuge for Juvenile Defenders in Plainfield the year before--visited prisoners in that capacity. In 1868, Governor Conrad Baker asked the Coffins to inspect the Indiana State Prison facilities in Jeffersonville and Michigan City, where women were housed with male prisoners and abused and mistreated by both male prisoners and the male guards.
Coffin was a leading force behind the establishment of the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls, later the Indiana Woman's Prison, in 1869. Located in Indianapolis, the prison opened in 1873, where women prisoners were supervised by a female warden, Sarah J. Smith, her assistant Elmira L. Johnson, and female guards. In 1877, after investigations into the prison's management, the Indiana General Assembly established a new all-female board, making the reformatory the first women's prison in the United States to be entirely operated by women. Rhoda Coffin served as the board's first president until her resignation in 1881, following inmate complaints of mistreatment and controversies against Smith and Dr. Theophilus Parvin. Coffin's board position and experience made her a leading figure in the U.S. prison reform movement of that time. She and her husband traveled broadly for public speaking engagements and advocacy for prison reform and visited prisons in Europe and the Middle East.
In 1884, Richmond National Bank, where Charles Coffin was president, failed and the Coffins lost their fortune. Charles and Rhoda Coffin moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Charles became an agent of Provident Life Insurance Company, a Quaker firm from Philadelphia. In 1886, the Whitewater Monthly Meeting expelled Charles for bad business practices, but he quickly became a member of the Orthodox Friends Meeting in Chicago. Rhoda M. Coffin died on September 29, 1909, in Chicago, while Charles F. Coffin died on August 9, 1916, and they were buried in Earlham Cemetery in Richmond, Indiana.
Sources:
Items in the collection.
"Charles F. and Rhoda M. Coffin Collection." Finding aid. Friends Collection and Earlham College Archive. Accessed September 8, 2025. https://archives.earlham.edu/repositories/2/resources/15.
Chinn, Kara. "Rhoda Coffin and the Darker Side of Prison Reform." IHS Blog, March 13, 2019. https://indianahistory.org/blog/rhoda-coffin-and-the-darker-side-of-prison-reform.
Wikipedia. "Rhoda Coffin." Wikipedia.org. Accessed September 8, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoda_Coffin.
Rhoda Coffin helped found the Home for Friendless Women in Richmond in the 1860s to provide a home for women and children with nowhere else to go. Due to its success, she was asked to consult on establishment of other such shelters in other towns and cities in Indiana. Coffin was recorded as a Society of Friends minister in 1867 and she and her husband--who had served on a commission to establish the House of Refuge for Juvenile Defenders in Plainfield the year before--visited prisoners in that capacity. In 1868, Governor Conrad Baker asked the Coffins to inspect the Indiana State Prison facilities in Jeffersonville and Michigan City, where women were housed with male prisoners and abused and mistreated by both male prisoners and the male guards.
Coffin was a leading force behind the establishment of the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls, later the Indiana Woman's Prison, in 1869. Located in Indianapolis, the prison opened in 1873, where women prisoners were supervised by a female warden, Sarah J. Smith, her assistant Elmira L. Johnson, and female guards. In 1877, after investigations into the prison's management, the Indiana General Assembly established a new all-female board, making the reformatory the first women's prison in the United States to be entirely operated by women. Rhoda Coffin served as the board's first president until her resignation in 1881, following inmate complaints of mistreatment and controversies against Smith and Dr. Theophilus Parvin. Coffin's board position and experience made her a leading figure in the U.S. prison reform movement of that time. She and her husband traveled broadly for public speaking engagements and advocacy for prison reform and visited prisons in Europe and the Middle East.
In 1884, Richmond National Bank, where Charles Coffin was president, failed and the Coffins lost their fortune. Charles and Rhoda Coffin moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Charles became an agent of Provident Life Insurance Company, a Quaker firm from Philadelphia. In 1886, the Whitewater Monthly Meeting expelled Charles for bad business practices, but he quickly became a member of the Orthodox Friends Meeting in Chicago. Rhoda M. Coffin died on September 29, 1909, in Chicago, while Charles F. Coffin died on August 9, 1916, and they were buried in Earlham Cemetery in Richmond, Indiana.
Sources:
Items in the collection.
"Charles F. and Rhoda M. Coffin Collection." Finding aid. Friends Collection and Earlham College Archive. Accessed September 8, 2025. https://archives.earlham.edu/repositories/2/resources/15.
Chinn, Kara. "Rhoda Coffin and the Darker Side of Prison Reform." IHS Blog, March 13, 2019. https://indianahistory.org/blog/rhoda-coffin-and-the-darker-side-of-prison-reform.
Wikipedia. "Rhoda Coffin." Wikipedia.org. Accessed September 8, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoda_Coffin.
Extent
0.01 Cubic Feet (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged by subject.
Custodial History
This collection was received by Rare Books and Manuscripts as a transfer from the Indiana Department of Public Welfare.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processing and finding aid completed 2014/07/17 by Nikki Stoddard Schofield. EAD finding aid revised 2025/09/08 by Brittany Kropf.
- Articles
- Baker, Conrad (1817-1885)
- Coffin, Charles F. (Charles Fisher), 1823-1916
- Indiana Girls’ School (Indianapolis, Ind.)
- Indiana Woman's Prison
- Indianapolis (Ind.)
- Jeffersonville (Ind.)
- Johnson, Elmina L.
- Michigan City (Ind.)
- Prison administration
- Prison visits
- Prisons
- Quakers -- Indiana
- Smith, Sarah J., -1885
- Society of Friends
- Women prisoners
Creator
- Title
- Rhoda M. Coffin, "Some Account of the Origin and Conduct of the Woman's Prison and Girls' Reformatory at Indianapolis, Indiana" account
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository
Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
