Watt Espy kept a series of index cards, grouped mainly by state, that records information about executions on American soil (colonies, states, territories) since the 1600s. Some cards contain lots of information, including name, place of execution, method, and details of the crime. Other cards have very little information aside from the fact that someone was executed. Sometimes there is not even a name—just “two slaves” or “pirate”. There are additional categories for federal, military, and Indian tribal executions. There are two different card sizes; for the 3x5 inch cards, each state, territory, or other main division is identified with a manila tab. Subdivisions are marked with blue, unlined cards and are intended to mirror the arrangement of materials in Series #2 as closely as possible.

In addition to Espy’s numerous 3x5 inch cards, there is also an assortment of 4x6 inch cards used in cases where Espy continued information for prisoners who had lengthy and/or unusual details regarding their crimes and punishments. Nearly every state is featured in this category, as well as Guam, Indian tribal, military, and federal executions. Since Espy did not have surplus information to match every 3x5 card, the 4x6 cards are a much smaller group. Researchers will know when to refer to the larger index cards because Espy noted “see large card” on the 3x5 size where appropriate. The 4x6 cards do not have any subdivisions and are arranged alphabetically by state, then alphabetically by prisoner name within each state.

Special notes for 3x5 index cards:

1. Slave states of the South, as well as colonial states of the North, usually have an extra category of cards: compensation paid to owners whose slaves were executed for crimes. Espy was the first researcher to track that information. However, cards showing compensation paid to sheriffs for carrying out executions are not separated into their own group.

2. Espy marked certain cards “unconfirmed” if he did not have sufficient evidence that an execution was carried out. Other cards indicate that an individual (or individuals) received a death sentence, but there is neither an “unconfirmed” notation nor date of death. Those cards have been categorized by the archivist as additional unconfirmed executions.

3. Researchers might want to search more than one category within a state, because some executions fit more than one description. Ex. “Female slave” executed 1858 whose owner was paid $400 would fit the categories of anonymous executions and slave owner compensations, but would only be filed in the latter. Ex. #2: “Man and Woman” possibly hanged in Kentucky, 1820s—would be filed in unconfirmed executions, not the anonymous group.

4. Card files include military executions and lynchings although neither were a main focus of Espy’s research.

5. Cards that name 3 or more individuals executed are in order by whoever’s name would properly be first alphabetically, even if Espy did not list that person’s name first. Ex: Dennis Igoe, James Johnson, and Joseph Frampton- Frampton is first alphabetically and is filed as such although his name is listed last on Espy’s index card.

6. Many of the 3x5 card subdivisions identified by blue cards are organized alphabetically, but due to time constraints, the slave owner compensation categories are not alphabetized.

This series comprises the bulk of Watt Espy’s primary and secondary research and is therefore the largest in the collection. Initially, approximately half of these documentation of execution records were arranged in an organized fashion alphabetically by state, or by federal, military, tribal or international categories and then alphabetically by an individual’s name. The others were not arranged in any discernable scheme with a significant amount of materials kept as unorganized loose documents in boxes. Espy marked some files as "not written up," but it was ultimately unclear how these differed from other records. After careful review, the archivists decided to combine all of the documentation of executions together, divided the records into five subseries for executions conducted by all 50 states and the District of Columbia, federal executions, military executions, Native American tribal executions, and international executions, and subsequently arranged and inter-filed all the loose materials.

This series consists of state Department of Corrections records, newspapers, published and unpublished state and county histories, proceedings of state and local courts, magazines, holdings of historical societies, libraries, museums, and archives, notes taken by Espy or others conducting research, lists of individuals executed by state or county, annotated photocopies of Espy’s index card files, and documentation of executions sent via correspondence. The amount of material varies greatly by individual. Individuals are referred to by last name or, in the absence of a surname, by their given name. In general, date ranges for this series are not inclusive. Although the folders include eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century dates of creation, please note many of these items are photocopies of originals that Espy utilized for his research.

In addition, Espy frequently grouped together materials for individuals executed for the same crime or executed on the same day for different crimes. Therefore he often had only one set of records for two people executed for the same crime. The archivists filed these records under the name of the individual whose last name or given name was alphabetically first.

The respective volumes of aggregated material suggest Espy focused heavily on U.S. state and federal executions, and not military, tribal or international ones. The state subseries is the largest of the five and documents executions in the United States by state or in the District of Columbia. It also includes executions in colonies or territories that later became states. The files are arranged alphabetically by state and then alphabetically by the last name of the individual executed when one or two people received the death penalty. Next are files containing references to multiple executions, three or more individuals executed on the same day or for conviction of the same crime; anonymous individuals executed, such as a “slave woman” or “pirate man;” city, county, state, or regional records and histories, and lists of individuals executed; and unconfirmed or possible executions. At the end of this subseries are files with lists or records of individuals executed from multiple states. For instance, a list of juveniles or innocents executed from more than one state or executions from other states listed in Maryland newspapers.

The federal, military and Native American tribal subseries follow the same arrangement scheme. The files are organized alphabetically by the last name of the individual executed when one or two people received the death penalty. Following are files containing references to multiple executions, lists of individuals executed, and then unconfirmed executions.

The international subseries is arranged alphabetically by country and then by an individual’s last name. There are less than fifteen countries and one U.S. territory mentioned.

This series features administrative records of Watt Espy’s efforts to chronicle every government-sanctioned execution in the United States as part of his Capital Punishment Research Project. Espy was the only full-time employee of this organization although he worked with paid graduate assistants while at the University of Alabama School of Law.

Through correspondence, this series recounts Espy’s work at the university, including the tribulations of his work on the National Science Foundation grant to produce a dataset of executions in the United States and relations with his academic partner on the grant. Espy writes often of his difficulties with the dataset, outlining errors committed by others during the data entry process, such as using the wrong code for type of execution, misspelling prisoner names, and typing in incorrect dates. There are numerous computer printouts of the dataset.

The series also contains Espy’s work from his home in Headland. There are his hard-copy and handwritten ledgers listing the executions he researched and their particulars. Files document administrative activities, including issuing invoices, paying bills, and submitting a copyright registration request. Date books from 1986-1990 and 1995 describe research requests, appointments, talks, meetings and telephone conversations.

The Watt Espy subject files contain a variety of materials that supplement information in the other series without necessarily being directly related. Researchers will find background information on the history of capital punishment, death penalty statistics, and a few files on crime in general. There are folders devoted to crime and punishment in many individual states and territories, though not all of them are represented. The subject files also contain information on the various methods of execution employed across the country, mainly hanging, gassing, electrocution, and lethal injection. Additionally, there are death penalty-related topics such as physician participation, editorial pieces dealing with ethics of capital punishment, execution of prisoners with low IQs, background materials on the death penalty in early America, and a few assorted death penalty research projects that Espy followed. There are also assorted photos, many of which feature inmates and prisons. Images of identified and unidentified individuals executed are presumed to be the ones that filled the walls of Espy’s house.

The subject files mainly are comprised of secondary source materials collected by Espy by virtue of his interest in the topics or actively used by him in his research. Occasionally there are entire photocopied books, or chapters of books, which have been retained due to the age and/or scarcity of the originals from which they were taken.

Many folders have items dated in the 1950s and earlier, some even to the 1800s, but those dates reflect the age of the content, not the documents themselves. Most of the papers in the subject files are photocopies obtained by Espy from the 1970s to the 1990s. Also, please note that the date spans in this series are not inclusive.