[Red" shaking hands with Judge Benjamin Barr Lindsey and telling him about a swimming hole on steps. Denver Colo.]"

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A boy called "Red" shakes hands with Judge Benjamin Barr Lindsey while telling him about a swimming hole, a moment that looks more like a friendly exchange than a formal court proceeding. Lindsey presided over Denver's juvenile court, which he helped build into a national model that leaned on probation and personal counsel rather than jail for young offenders. The record dates the picture to roughly 1920 to 1925, a period when Lindsey's reform work drew wide attention. Images like this one show the effort to build trust between the court and the children who came before it.

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