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Asylum Books   Asylum Movies   Web Resources


Asylum Books
These books both provide a historical and literary look into the insane asylums and state schools of the past. Some are real documentaries on certain places, others are literary works based off histories of real places, and some are both personal memoirs and general histories of mental hospitals and mental illness.

Angels in the Architecture, A Photographic Elegry to an American Asylum, by Hiedi Johnson

A Pictorial Report on Mental Institutions in Pennsylvania, Gregory Smith

The Art of Asylum Keeping, Thomas Story Kirkbride and the Origins of American Psychiatry, by Nancy Tomes

Asylum, by William Seabrook

Asylum: Pontiac's Grand Monument from the Gilded Age, by Bruce J. Annett, Jr.

Beauty is Therapy, Memories of the Traverse City State Hospital, by Earle E. Steel as told to Kristen Hains

Bedlam, A Year in the Life of a Mental Hospital, by Dominick Bosco

Changing Places: Remaking Institutional Buildings, Edited by Lynda H. Scheekloth, Marcia F. Feuerstein, and Barbara A. Campagna

Christmass in Purgatory, A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation, by Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan

Danvers State, Memoirs Of A Nurse In The Asylum, Angelina Szot and Barbara Stillwell

Eloise, Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum, and Hospital 1839 - 1984, Patricia Ibbotson

Empty Beds, A History of Vermont State Hospital, Marsha R. Kincheloe and Herbert G. Hunt Jr

Gentle Asylum, Life at a Mental Hospital, by Isabelle Andersen

Girl Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen

Gracefully Insane, Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital, by Alex Beam

Life at the Texas State Lunitic Asylum, 1857-1997, by Sarah C. Sitton

Life Inside, A Memoir, by Mindy Lewis

Mad In America, Bad Scinence, Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, by Robert Whitaker

Madness and Civilization, A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, by Michel Foucault

The Mentally Ill in America, by Albert Deutsch

Nobody's Child, Marie Balter and Richard Katz

The Quiet Room, A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness, by Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett

Reform At Osawatomie State Hospital, Treatment of the Mentally Ill 1866 - 1970, Lowell Gish

Screw, A Guards View of Bridgewater State Hospital, Tom Ryan and Bob Casey

The Shame of the States, Albert Deutsch

The Snake Pit, Mary Jane Ward

Snake Pit Attendant, The Experiences of a Mental Hospital Attendant, Jesse Walter Dees Jr

The State Boys Rebellion, by Michael D'Antonio

The Warehouse, A Look At a 1960's Insane Asylum, by James Von Vorst

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Asylum Movies
Movies give us a good insight into both the mental institution as a historical context, but also it shows up how the generation at the time thought of the mentally ill. Here are some films that portray either mental institution as a general idea (Ie. a fake hospital), or a real institution.
The Asylum
A Beautiful Mind
The Crucible
Girl Interrupted
In Dreams
The Omega Man
One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest
Session 9
Shock Waves
The Snake Pit
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Web Resources
This is the place for various web resources that can be helpful in preparing for an exploration. It is also suggested that you get a good road atlas to keep in your car and home. (Some good road atlases: Random McNally and American Map)
Historical Online Image Archives
Disability History Museum
Florida Photographs from the Florida Photographic Collection
Historical Picture Collections
Oregon State Board of Control Images
Philadelphia Historical Digital Image Library
Willard Library - Photographs from Battle Creek's History - Battle Creek Sanitarium
 
 
Historical Links
Asylum Projects
Dr. Walter Freeman - The Lobotomist
Elliot Valenstein on the history of the lobotomy
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Historic Asylums of America
Hospitals and Sanatoriums of the Homoeopathic School of Medicine
Images and Pictures of Mental Illness
 
 
Online Resources
Google Search
Imaging Resource
Mapquest
Photobucket Image Hosting and Free Online Photo Albums
TerraServer 6.0 Homepage
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