This collection contains Board of Pardons reviews of criminal cases, except impeachment, to determine whether clemency should be recommended to the Governor for his or her approval or disapproval. While the United States’ Constitution grants the President of the United States the power to grant pardons, in Pennsylvania the pardoning power is shared between the Board of Pardons and the Governor. The Board of Pardons consists of five members including the Lieutenant Governor who serves as chairman, the Attorney General, and three members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. This collection contains applications made to, and proclamations issued by, the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. Grouped into applications and proclamations and then arranged chronologically by date of action. The applications volumes provide brief narrative case histories and recommendations for pardons or commutations and whether the pardons or commutations were granted. Volume 1 covering the period 1874-1877 provides reasons why the Pardon Board made its recommendations while for the period 1882-1930 records of commutation actions are included. The last volume covering the period 1931-1934 contains mostly commutation records with only a few pardon actions. The proclamation volumes provide the Board’s recommendations and reasons for its judgments.
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funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and through the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Library Access funds administered by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Office of Commonwealth Libraries.
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