Harvey Lawrence Long Papers

Biography/Profile

Harvey Lawrence Long was born in Hancock County, Iowa, November 19, 1895. After attending grade school in Iowa and graduating from the Academy of Mount Morris College in Illinois, he entered the United States Army. He served in France in the Army’s medical division from 1918 to 1919.

Long became a student at University of Illinois at Urbana. Besides his study in biology and education, he was a research assistant at the Illinois State Water Survey Department. After completing his course work and writing a thesis titled “The Filamentous Bacteria in Activated Sludge”, Long was awarded an A. B. degree in 1922. Later, as an assistant bacteriologist, his undergraduate thesis was incorporated in a research article titled “Microbiology and Theory of Activated Sludge” by Dr. A. M. Buswell, chief of the Illinois State Water Survey Division and published in the Journal of the American Water Works Association.

From 1922 to 1924 Long taught botany and physiology and coached basketball at Robinson Township Highs School, Robinson, Illinois. During the summers of 1923 and 1924 respectively, he taught human physiology and botany at Illinois State Normal University and was a “Y” secretary at Camp Roosevelt, La Porte, Indiana.

Subsequently, he began work on a masters degree in health education at Columbia University Teachers College. He received an M. A. degree in 1925. In addition to his studies, Long directed club work for pre-delinquents for the Big Brother Movement, New York City.

In 193 he was appointed director of the Lincoln Nebraska Physical and Health Education Department. He established nutritional programs for underweight children, pre-school immunization clinics and fresh air classes. Long also designed health questionnaires and health booklets for each child and he introduced the study of health and hygiene into the school curriculum. Mr. Long terminated his directorship in 1928.

In 1931 Harvey L. Long entered the juvenile correctional field as a parole agent assigned to the Chicago area office of the Illinois Department of Public Welfare. In 1933 he became supervisor of the Division of Supervision of Parolees — Juvenile unit. As a liaison parole representative to the St. Charles Training School for Boys, Long recognized the need for a program emphasizing individual guidance and personal rehabilitation of male juvenile wards. In 1941 he organized the Division of Supervision of Delinquents on a state-wide basis and became its first superintendent. He served from 1941 to 1949.

Long also studied law at John Marshall Law School. He received a doctorate in jurisprudence in 1936 and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1937. He also studied public administration at the University of Chicago in 1944.

In 1949 Governor Adlai E. Stevenson appointed Long as superintendent of the Division for Supervision of Parolees, Department of Public Safety. He now administered programs which released adult males from state penal institutions within Illinois. Consequently, he transferred his constructive long-range plan of individual guidance and personal rehabilitation to the adult parole program.

One individual who was released under this program was Nathan Leopold, convicted murderer of Bobby Frank.

In 1953 Long returned to the juvenile correctional field as a member of the Illinois Youth Commission. He became its executive secretary in 1955, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1964.

Long’s scholarly contributions to the field of juvenile correction are numerous. Additionally, he was editor of the Journal of Illinois Probation and Parole Association from 1955 to 1963.

Long was an active member of the Central States Correction Association, president, 1952-1953; National Conference of Juvenile Agencies, president, 1946-1947; American Correctional Association, National Educational Association; Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations; Illinois Welfare Association, study course committee, 1948; Illinois Academy of Criminology, secretary, 1942-1944; and National Council on Crime and Delinquency, chairman, 1951-1953 and advisory council, 1947-1961.

He was also a member of the City Club of Chicago, committee on social welfare; American Legion Advertising Men’s Post # 38; Bethany Brethen Hospital Board of Trustees; Illinois Society of Mental Hygiene, children’s commission, 1949; Church Federation of Greater Chicago, department of social service; Illinois Sex Offenders Commission — chairman of a sub-committee, 1952; National Conference on Parole, Washington D. C. — workshop consultant, 1956; Sigma Xi; and Kappa Delta Pi.