Alcatraz Museum Collections

alcatraz prison key

Online Museum Collection of Objects

To learn more about the history of Alcatraz, please visit the National Park Service's Museum Collections At the Rock: Alcatraz Island. This rich online exhibit contains objects made by notorious inmates, historic photographs and documents, escape materials and inmate artwork. The collection also includes items made by officers, including correctional materials form when Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary from 1931-1963; military prison materials from 1859-1934 and the American Indian occupation of 1969-1971.

 

In 1962, three inmates attempting to escape from Alcatraz created fake human heads out of cardboard and human hair. They placed the heads on their pillows in their cells so it appeared as though they were sleeping. 

GGNRA, NPS

 

Other Research Resources

If you are conducting research, or want more historical information on Alcatraz, GGNRA has many Alcatraz research resouces.

Visit our Park Archives and Records Center research page to learn about all the photographs, maps, oral histories and valuable documents that we manage. Visit the Alcatraz Finding Aids page to learn about our Alcatraz-specific collections.

We also have many Alcatraz resource documents online. Visit the park's cultural resources publication page and scroll down alphabetically to Alcatraz: There you can find cultural landscape reports, and historic structure reports.