The Untold History of the First Illinois State Hospital for the Insane
The Untold History of the First Illinois State Hospital for the Insane

Author: Joe Squillace

Publisher:

Published: 2020-10-10

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781735917115

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Moral treatment, the vogue of early American psychology, freed the mentally ill of their chains. They were, however, still relegated to separate institutions, commonly called asylums, for at least a brief respite from the stressors that were thought to cause their madness. Did it work? Were the patients actually treated more humanely? The Untold History of the First Illinois State Hospital for the Insane tells the stories of the people who were subjected to this new treatment on the American Frontier. As author Dr. Joe Squillace shows, the institution first had great difficulty in getting established, but the town of Jacksonville, Illinois, where the Hospital was built, rallied to make it a more humane and person-centered institution. The Hospital's leaders, too, attempted, within the constraints of their time, to treat their patients with respect. But, at a time when mental illness was still not well understood some patients were tortured and imprisoned, even though they were not insane, even by 19th century standards. What is revealed in Untold History is an institution that struggled, much like today's institutions do, to address the needs of those living with mental illness, in a culture that did not understand it fully.Dr. Squillace traces the history of the institution from its origins in the 1840s to the 1930s, outlining the various treatments administered at the institution. The book demonstrates that the institution was deeply embedded in the larger community, rife with tangled and notorious Illinois politics. Sadly, many unknown and forgotten people were buried unceremoniously in potter's fields after dark. Macabre stories ensue. The Untold History of the First Illinois State Hospital for the Insane provides a tangible connection to a rural Illinois county's struggle with treating mental illness as the medical community's understanding of it developed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Reports of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane. 1847-1862
Reports of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane. 1847-1862

Author: Dorothea Lynde Dix

Publisher: Franklin Classics

Published: 2018-10-11

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9780342378005

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Bittersweet Memories
Bittersweet Memories

Author: Gary L. Lisman

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1412033365

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This book seeks to understand what really happened at the Peoria State Hospital during its fascinating history and to do so as accurately as possible. In the end, the individual reader will be allowed to draw his or her own conclusions regarding the hospital and those who call it their "home."

The Prisoners' Hidden Life, Or Insane Asylums Unveiled
The Prisoners' Hidden Life, Or Insane Asylums Unveiled

Author: Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard

Publisher:

Published: 1868

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13:

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"Mrs. Packard says that because she expressed 'obnoxious views' in Sunday School at the Old School Presbyterian Church in Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois, her husband of twenty-one years and father of her six children, the Reverand Theophilus Packard, 'abducted' her and took her to the asylum and had her incarcerated (which was legal per Illinois statute of 1851). She faithfully recorded events of her imprisonment - for that is what it was - and declares that what happened to her was not uncommon. The conditions, attitudes and behavior she describes are dreadful and extreme - and not much improved twelve decades later" -- insert provided by seller.

God Knows His Name
God Knows His Name

Author: David Bakke

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2000-10-30

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 0809381907

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Police found John Doe No. 24 in the early morning hours of October 11, 1945, in Jacksonville, Illinois. Unable to communicate, the deaf and mute teenager was labeled “feeble minded” and sentenced by a judge to the nightmarish jumble of the Lincoln State School and Colony in Jacksonville. He remained in the Illinois mental health care system for over thirty years and died at the Sharon Oaks Nursing Home in Peoria on November 28, 1993. Deaf, mute, and later blind, the young black man survived institutionalized hell: beatings, hunger, overcrowding, and the dehumanizing treatment that characterized state institutions through the 1950s. In spite of his environment, he made friends, took on responsibilities, and developed a sense of humor. People who knew him found him remarkable. Award-winning journalist Dave Bakke reconstructs the life of John Doe No. 24 through research into a half-century of the state mental health system, personal interviews with people who knew him at various points during his life, and sixteen black-and-white illustrations. After reading a story about John Doe in the New York Times, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote and recorded “John Doe No. 24” and purchased a headstone for his unmarked grave. She contributes a foreword to this book. As death approached for the man known only as John Doe No. 24, his one-time nurse Donna Romine reflected sadly on his mystery. “Ah, well,” she said, “God knows his name.”

The Black Man's President
The Black Man's President

Author: Michael Burlingame

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1643138146

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Frederick Douglass called the martyred president "emphatically the black man's president” as well as “the first who rose above the prejudice of his times and country.” This narrative history of Lincoln’s personal interchange with Black people over the course his career reveals a side of the sixteenth president that, until now, has not been fully explored or understood. In a little-noted eulogy delivered shortly after Lincoln's assassination, Frederick Douglass called the martyred president "emphatically the black man's president," the "first to show any respect for their rights as men.” To justify that description, Douglass pointed not just to Lincoln's official acts and utterances, like the Emancipation Proclamation or the Second Inaugural Address, but also to the president’s own personal experiences with Black people. Referring to one of his White House visits, Douglass said: "In daring to invite a Negro to an audience at the White House, Mr. Lincoln was saying to the country: I am President of the black people as well as the white, and I mean to respect their rights and feelings as men and as citizens.” But Lincoln’s description as “emphatically the black man’s president” rests on more than his relationship with Douglass or on his official words and deeds. Lincoln interacted with many other African Americans during his presidency His unfailing cordiality to them, his willingness to meet with them in the White House, to honor their requests, to invite them to consult on public policy, to treat them with respect whether they were kitchen servants or leaders of the Black community, to invite them to attend receptions, to sing and pray with them in their neighborhoods—all those manifestations of an egalitarian spirit fully justified the tributes paid to him by Frederick Douglass and other African Americans like Sojourner Truth, who said: "I never was treated by any one with more kindness and cordiality than were shown to me by that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln.” Historian David S. Reynolds observed recently that only by examining Lincoln’s “personal interchange with Black people do we see the complete falsity of the charges of innate racism that some have leveled against him over the years.”

Haunted Jacksonville
Haunted Jacksonville

Author: Troy Taylor

Publisher:

Published: 2014-10-02

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9781892523921

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HAUNTED JACKSONVILLE HISTORY AND HAUNTINGS OF THE "ATHENS OF THE WEST" More than 150 years ago, Jacksonville was dubbed the "Athens of the West" by the settlers who carved it from the prairie land of the Illinois. It was a place of higher learning, culture, history - and hauntings. Over the decades, the city has been home to three Illinois governors, two presidential nominees, and holds a unique place in history as the home of the "Big Eli," the world's first portable Ferris Wheel. It also holds a strange place in America's supernatural history. In 1847, Jacksonville became home to the Illinois State Asylum and Hospital for the Insane. It was here in 1865 that a young woman named Mary Roff died under mysterious circumstances. More than 12 years later, Mary's spirit allegedly possessed the body of a young girl named Lurancy Vennum and became known as the "Watseka Wonder," a phenomenon that remains one of the most documented supernatural events of all time. Join author Troy Taylor and Jacksonville native Lisa Taylor Horton as they uncover the history and hauntings of the "Athens of the West," one of the most mysterious towns in Illinois. Within these pages, they'll reveal the history of the hauntings that still linger in Jacksonville and will often expose the true stories behind the tales that have been part of local lore for generations. This chilling volume includes classic accounts of Jacksonville's famous and little-known haunted places like Illinois College, MacMurray College, The Emporium, Hockenhull Building, Dunlap Hotel, the real story of the Jacksonville Theatre Guild and much more! It sets the record straight on many of Jacksonville's most famous haunts - proving that truth really is much stranger than fiction! Inspired by the popular Haunted Jacksonville Tours, this book tells the story of how the city became so haunted and earned its reputation as one of the spookiest places in Illinois. It's a story you won't soon forget!

Elizabeth Packard
Elizabeth Packard

Author: Linda V. Carlisle

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2010-11-15

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 0252090071

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Elizabeth Packard's story is one of courage and accomplishment in the face of injustice and heartbreak. In 1860, her husband, a strong-willed Calvinist minister, committed her to an Illinois insane asylum in an effort to protect their six children and his church from what he considered her heretical religious ideas. Upon her release three years later (as her husband sought to return her to an asylum), Packard obtained a jury trial and was declared sane. Before the trial ended, however, her husband sold their home and left for Massachusetts with their young children and her personal property. His actions were perfectly legal under Illinois and Massachusetts law; Packard had no legal recourse by which to recover her children and property. This experience in the legal system, along with her experience as an asylum patient, launched Packard into a career as an advocate for the civil rights of married women and the mentally ill. She wrote numerous books and lobbied legislatures literally from coast to coast advocating more stringent commitment laws, protections for the rights of asylum patients, and laws to give married women equal rights in matters of child custody, property, and earnings. Despite strong opposition from the psychiatric community, Packard's laws were passed in state after state, with lasting impact on commitment and care of the mentally ill in the United States. Packard's life demonstrates how dissonant streams of American social and intellectual history led to conflict between the freethinking Packard, her Calvinist husband, her asylum doctor, and America's fledgling psychiatric profession. It is this conflict--along with her personal battle to transcend the stigma of insanity and regain custody of her children--that makes Elizabeth Packard's story both forceful and compelling.