Conduct Book, 1875-01 to 1876-02

This collection contains the Conduct Books of the New York Nautical School (now SUNY Maritime College). The Conduct Books are large register volumes where the administrators of the school recorded when a student misbehaved or broke school rules. A typical entry in these books includes the student’s name, the date of they entered to the school, a list of offences committed by the student with the date of the offence and the punishment the student received. Some examples of offences include neglect of studies, profanity, skylarking, disrespect, spitting, drinking alcohol, fighting, smoking, refusing to obey orders etc. The most common types of punishments given to students were extra duty and deprivation of liberty. These registers also include the date the student graduated. If the student didn't graduate the date they withdrew, deserted or were dismissed is recorded. In the early 20th century the school started using a demerit system. Students would earn a certain number of demerits for offences committed and punishments would be based on how many demerits a student had accumulated. Once this system was in place the number of demerits earned by a student was recorded in the Conduct Books. Most of these volumes contain an alphebetical index in the front of the book which lists the students included in that particular Conduct Book and the page number where they can be found.