This project is a catalog and exploration of my research into the history of institutional psychiatry in the United States, from the late Victorian period through deinstitutionalization.
It is my hope that this endeavor will aid in demystifying the social mythology surrounding the “asylum,” and not only contextualize but clarify the factual realities of the period and reveal the myriad complexities of institutional life which are often grossly oversimplified.
Primary sources, contemporary scholarship, media, and fictionalized interpretations and depictions of institutional life will be featured.
The resources and recommended reading pages, which are currently in development, will be organized according to areas of interest and nature of the source.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this collection will inevitably contain subject matter which is of a sensitive and visceral nature. Efforts will be made to preface material which might be considered disturbing or especially alarming, but it is presumed that given the nature of the content herein, readers are using their own judgment in electing to browse this site.
Post Script: In the interests of transparency, and in service to my commitment to honesty, authenticity, and integrity, no part of this project, or any other component of my research, is in any way generated, aided, or fabricated by any nonhuman entity representing itself as “intelligent.” Everything you read here constitutes my own original, thoroughly mammalian work, for better or worse.