Diseases of the Mind

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Professionalization

An engraving depicting a long building with six wings of 3 floors and a 4 story central section
with a dome and extensive grounds.

State Hospital for the Insane for 200 Patients, 1854

Title page, edited by the officers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, Utica.

The American Journal of Insanity, Utica, New York, 1844

Dramatic formal portrait of a white man, head and shoulders, front pose, with his signature below.

Amariah Brigham

Formal portrait of a white man seated at a desk with an open book; glasses on forehead; thoughtful pose.

Benjamin Rush M.D.

Mid-19th-century compilation portrait of 176 members, all men.

Members of the Superintendents Association 1890–1891

A person is sitting in a chair; his body is immobilized by straps at the shoulders, arms, waist, and feet; a box-like apparatus is used to confine the head. There is a bucket attached beneath the seat.

The Tranquilizing Chair of Dr. Benjamin Rush

Formal photographic portrait an older, bearded, white man, seated, wearing glasses.

Isaac Ray, M.D.

Lithograph of head of French soldier facing right with brain exposed.

Lithograph of the Brain

Influences

A photographic portrait of S. Weir Mitchell, bearded, head and shoulders, wearing a cape.

S. Weir Mitchell, M.D.

Formal Photogravure of a white man in a suit with a beard and glasses.

Bernard Sachs, M.D.

Engraved portrait of an older man with a beard in a suit, with printed signature below.

Pliny Earle

Head and shoulders engraved portrait of an older white man, with a signature below.

Edward Jarvis, MD

Formal portrait of a white man large lamb chop sideburns, head and shoulders, with facsimile autograph at bottom.

George Beard, M.D.

Activism

Early photographic portrait of Dorothea Dix, posed seated, in an oval frame.

Dorothea Dix

A man is sitting on a straw bed in a prison; he is wearing a shoulder harness which is chained to the wall behind him.

Chained in Bedlam

A powerfully built, angry looking man is sitting on the floor, arms folded and knees are drawn up close, his head is turned to the left; his wrists and ankles are in irons which are chained to the wall

“Madness”

Illustration of Elizabeth Packard being taken to a mental institution against her will, carried by two men onto an awaiting train with many male and female onlookers

Kidnapping Mrs. Packard

A young man on the left and a young woman on the right in formal, late 19th-century attire looking directly into the camera.

Asylum Inmates

Women in Psychiatry

A formal black and white photographic portrait of a white woman.

Elizabeth Blackwell, MD

A formal black and white photographic portrait of a white woman

Mary Putnam Jacobi, MD

A formal photograph of a full bearded man in a suit with a printed autograph at the bottom.

John P. Gray

Formal photograph of an older white man in a suit.

Thomas Story Kirkbride, ca. 1900

Floorplans of the cellar and first floors with long wings of open wards extending east and west from the central hallway.

Kirkbride Hospital Plan

An engraving depicting a long building with six wings of 3 floors and a 4 story central section with a dome and extensive grounds.

State Hospital for the Insane for 200 Patients, 1854

Psychiatric Debates

A man stands in the courtyard as a woman patient is freed from her chains; other women patients are chained to wooden posts attached to a building.

Dr. Philippe Pinel at the Salpêriere Hospital, Paris

A scowling woman with her arms held in a gown sitting with her feet drawn up on a bench, and leaning against a tiled wall.

“Maniac, during attack and after recovery” 1838

A man slumped on a chair, wearing a harness to inhibit mobility.

“Idiot,” 1838

A man sitting on the floor hugging his knees wearing a robe, his hands tucked in the sleeves and the collar up over his mouth.

“Aliéné en démence,” 1838

A man is sitting in a chair wearing a gown with the end of each long sleeve tied to the opposite side of the chair.

“Idiot,” 1838

Front and back view of a man wearing a shoulder harness to immobilize his arms, and with his ankles shackled

Showing How Bands and Chains in the Past Were Mistakenly Used as Auxiliaries to Cure

An illustration of cell made of wooden slats raised up off the floor, with a small square opening at head height, fastened closed with bars and padlocks.

Belgian Cage, 1889

An illustration of a circular plate of metal approx. 1/4 inch thick on which is a 1/2 inch opening; a T-shaped handle is attached.

The Key, 1827

Front elevation and first floor plan of a sprawling building of three floors.

Willard Asylum for the Insane

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