From the bluff overlooking the Ohio River Valley in Madison, Indiana, Madison State Hospital celebrated its 100th Anniversary on August 23, 2010. The collaboration of the hospital s Executive Cabinet and select departmental leaders have created this rich account of the first 100 years. Explore with us the multifaceted changes and accomplishments that have positioned it as a premier state psychiatric hospital.
Anna Ott died in the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane in 1893. She had enjoyed status and financial success first as a physician's wife and then as the only female doctor in Madison. Throughout her first marriage, attempts to divorce her abusive second husband, and twenty years of institutionalization, Ott determinedly shaped her own life. Kim E. Nielsen explores a life at once irregular and unexceptional. Historical and institutional structures, like her whiteness and laws that liberalized divorce and women's ability to control their property, opened up uncommon possibilities for Ott. Other structures, from domestic violence in the home to rampant sexism and ableism outside of it, remained a part of even affluent women's lives. Money, Marriage, and Madness tells a forgotten story of how the legal and medical cultures of the time shaped one woman—and what her life tells us about power and society in nineteenth century America.
Downtown Madison, the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States, provides the perfect haunts for poltergeists and playful spirits. Beautifully preserved mid-nineteenth-century buildings grace the streets of Madison, Indiana, providing a concrete connection to the past. But a more ethereal, ghostly link flits about these streets when night descends. Restive spirits linger here, like the extra that may join you mid-slumber at Whitehall Bed-and-Breakfast, a residual from the Civil War hospital that was once nearby. Feel the ghostly chill of a mob bootlegger who stops by the Broadway Tavern around last call and learn of the myriad ghosts that flutter here in search of something. Dive into the shadows of Madison on this chilling journey with Virginia Jorgensen. Includes photos!
In Psychiatry in Indiana: The First 175 Years, authors Philip M. Coons, M.D., and Elizabeth S. Bowman, M.D., paint a fascinating, compelling, and vibrant portrait of the history of psychiatry in Indiana from its beginnings when Indiana was a territory up through present day, relying on meticulous research and personal anecdotes from former psychiatric employees of Indianas mental health facilities for their intriguing exploration. Psychiatry in Indiana gives a brief history of psychiatry in the United States and describes the plight of Indianas mentally ill who were hidden away in poorhouses and jails during the first half of the nineteenth century. The authors trace the history of Indianas public mental hospitals and state developmental centers during the next 125 years, discussing private psychiatric hospitals, child psychiatry, correctional psychiatry, the move towards community mental health centers, and child psychiatry. They also explore the rich history of the Indiana Psychiatric Society and the Department of Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine. Descriptions of notable psychiatrists, landmark legal cases, and famous patients are sure to intrigue anyone with a professional or local interest in Psychiatry in Indiana.
