Miss Munger Honored on Tenth Anniversary as State Farm Head
[New London Day, 6 Jul 1936]
!
The tenth anniversary of Miss Elizabeth Munger's superintendency of the state farm for women at Niantic was celebrated on the Fourth of July by a parade, entertainment and picnic given by the staff and girls of the farm.
Miss Munger, Mrs. James N. Kelley of this city, a member of the board of directors, and Miss Elsie Shearer, deputy superintendent, were escorted to the reviewing stand, which bore a banner marked The Tenth Anniversary of Our Superintendent.
The parade, representing America in Song, began with two color bearers, who represented the American flag and the flag of Connecticut to Miss Munger, with a corsage of red, white and blue flowers. The color bearers were followed by the Junior Fife and Drum Corps of Murphy-Rathbun post, V.F.W., which took up a position near the viewing stand.
The floats which passed in review represented the following themes with appropriate music and entertainment:
Uncle Sam, Goddess of Liberty, sailor boys, early settlers, American Indians, the babies from the maternity unit, the sunny south, melting pot, boys in blue, country folk, rough riders, doughboys, cowboys, political parties, and our flag.
!
Committee Members
Dr. Edith A. MacLeod was chairman of the parade committee and others on the various committees included Miss Martha Stolz, Miss Helen Spalding, Miss Mildred Macknic, Mrs. Beth Brown, Miss Ethel Dickey, Miss Anne Robinson, Mrs. Julia Elliott, Mrs. Elijah Burdsall, Miss Anna Stevenson, Miss Harriet Grannis, Miss Olive Dean, Miss Erma Savage, Miss Mildred Rich, Miss Mary Schmeltzer, Miss Maureen Munger, Mrs. Angela Mead, Mrs. Helen Coulter, Miss Bertha Jackson, Miss Olga Leknesund, Mrs. Richard M. Adams, Dr. Fredericka Freytag, Miss Harriet Kehrer, Mrs. Winifred Cook, Miss Ruth Burdsall, Miss Hildegarde Hirsch, Miss Marie Smith, Miss Edna Wright, Miss Delia Busaillon, Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Beers, Mrs. Brockett, Miss Brinckerhoff, Miss Frances Kenealy, Miss Sarah Walsh, Miss Florence Stull, and Miss Mary Ryan. Also Messrs. Strong, Beebe, Perkins, Brockett, Elliott, Reed, Selig, Horowitz and Holloway.
The parade was followed by a picnic lunch for both girls and staff and a double header baseball game, one between the members of the girls' teams and one played by members of the staff.
!
Progress in Administration
During Miss Munger's administration a building program has been initiated and developed to include four new cottages to house the inmates, an administration building, industrial building, laundry and cannery, piggery, storehouse, central sewage disposal plant, and a machine shed.
Although the building program is incomplete, it provides a most progressive system of treatment, training and care, and the farm is recognized as one of the best institutions of its kind in the country.
A system of classification of inmates, which is approved by all progressive penalogists, was begun by Miss Munger and has been carried on since 1926. The prison women from Wethersfield were transferred to the state farm in 1930 and all women prisoners of the state have been cared for at the state farm since that time.
The population of the state farm has trebled since 1926 and the system of classification has made it possible for this institution to care for 1,635 women during Miss Munger's ten years as superintendent, whereas only 418 women were cared for in the nine years previous to her superintendency.