Sources

Primary

  • Primary Sources are typically direct accounts or raw data about or from the subject of study. Historians prefer to work with Primary Sources when possible because they are the least refined and so closest to historical fact regardless of actually accuracy. Some creative license is taken for the creation of this site as the narrative for Northampton State Hospital is a social one, and thus articles and artifacts reflecting the cultural and social makeup of the period are considered to be Primary.
  • The Curability of Insanity: A Series of Studies
    by Pliny Earle, M.D., 1886
    The Curability of Insanity: A Series of Studies

    A more honest and realistic review of mental treatment in a time when institutions grossly overstated their effectiveness. Pliny Earle scrutinizes the assumptions of the term “curability” through statistical information gleaned personally and globally.

    Available at Forbes Library & Google Books.
  • The Memoirs of Pliny Earle, M.D.
    by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, 1898
    Memoirs of Pliny Earle

    Superintendent Pliny Earle’s long career defined some of the brightest moments of Northampton State Hospital. Memoirs is essential to understanding the Moralist ideal in action; from whence the asylum ultimately fell.

    Available at Forbes Library & Google Books.
  • Northampton State Hospital Annual Reports
    1856 - 1939
    Annual Reports

    Part of the evolving perspective of the State Hospital for the period, as seen from the Superintendent & Trustees and communicated to the Governor and Legislature of the Commonwealth.

    Available at the University of Massachusetts Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
  • On the Construction, Organization, and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane
    by Thomas Story Kirkbride, M.D., LL.D., 1880
    On the Construction, Organization, and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane

    The handbook of progressive treatment, Kirkbride’s vision of asylum design would serve as the harbinger and ultimately epitaph for an era of humanist attitudes and medical advances. Though many institutions like Northampton State Hospital would follow in the "Kirkbride plan" in construction, few would carry it out in spirit.

    Available at Google Books.
  • Report on Insanity and Idiocy in Massachusetts
    by Edward Jarvis, et. al., 1855
    Report on Insanity and Idiocy in Massachusetts

    A revolution in and of itself, the Jarvis report investigated through correspondence, interviews, and study of 1700 families, physicians, clergymen, police constables, and superintendents. Edward Jarvis was present at the cornerstone ceremony and a copy of this report was sealed within the time capsule.

    Available at Forbes Library & Google Books.

Secondary

Books

  • The Art of Asylum-Keeping by Nancy Tomes brilliantly provides context for one of the most iconic influences on early American psychiatry: Thomas Story Kirkbride.
  • Back Row, Back Ward by Mike Kirby describes the often confusing story of history, money and politics surrounding the redevelopment of Northampton State Hospital from a personal perspective.
  • On Behalf of the Insane Poor by Dorothea Lynde Dix is a modern compilation of some of the reformer’s work during the mid-nineteenth century. Dix visited Northampton State Hospital and personally recommended Pliny Earle as the successor to Superintendent Prince.
  • The History of Northampton State Hospital 1858 - 1993 by Sanford Bloomberg catalogs some of the legal and medical changes Northampton State Hospital endured from the view of a psychiatric physician.
  • The Life and Death of Northampton State Hospital. Photographs by Stan Sherer, Text by J. Michael Moore. Published by Historic Northampton this is the companion to the 1994 exhibit centering on the staff of Northampton State Hospital at its closing.
  • Mad in America by Robert Whitaker is a disturbing history of schizophrenic treatment. In addition to reviewing the strange path of what has come to be known as schizophrenia, the author at one point successfully compares modern treatment with the Nazi Aktion T4 program.
  • Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault is a dense and poetic history of the idea of madness and its place in civilization. The text connects the Medieval practice of containing the insane through exile on Ship(s) of Fools to the modern asylum.
  • Women of the Asylum by Jeffrey L. Geller is a well edited and presented compilation of 26 excerpts from firsthand accounts ranging from 1840 to 1945.

Web Sites

  • 1856 Anna Schuleit’s site for the Habeas Corpus event. Though several years old the site still provides in-depth information not available elsewhere online. Viewing the site requires Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  • Disability History Museum contains a library of artifacts, articles, and imagery and will soon host resources for teachers "to promote understanding about the historical experience of people with disabilities by recovering, chronicling, and interpreting their stories."
  • Freedom Center, a local "support and activism community run by and for people labeled with severe ‘mental disorders’" work with oral history is a framework for our research of a similar nature. Together with the Icarus Project the FC recently published a Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs Guide.
  • Historic Northampton’s Multimedia section features David Parnell’s From Asylum to Sanctuary: Remains of the Northampton State Hospital.
  • Kirkbride Buildings’ Northampton State Hospital section. Pictures and historical information concerning the Kirkbride plan for the construction of asylums. The site also features several other asylums as well as a news section for current events.
  • Professor Riddell’s Northampton State Hospital site which like his class is concerned with the drive to deinstitutionalization and its effect on the community.