Friday, July 24, 2020

New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane: Concord,NH - Morgan Wallingford

  

When was this "asylum" opened, and what did it look like? Did it follow Kirkbride's design? 


This was opened in 1842 and it looked like all the other facilities that were around at the same. The appeal of a prison-like atmosphere. It was hard to find past information. Some of the biggest repeat news on it was so how well built it was. It looks almost identical to Pineland in Gray, ME with the brick, schools like the look and the farm surrounding. The similarity in Kirkbride’s design was the U-shaped formation of the building itself. 


What was this institution's original intent?

From what I read, originally it was meant to house the homeless and acknowledge mental illness in the United States. This was the 17th asylum to open here in the US. 


Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their experiences exist?

Men and women were housed there separately. I couldn’t find narratives about patients' experiences. All were considered to be mentally ill. Something worth noting here is how the census separates the population in the adding of people by gender, nationality, race they are, then age group, even marital status, whether they are literate, occupation, years spent in insane hospitals, number of admissions to hospitals, duration of attack symptoms, and discharge status/deaths/transfers. There is a place for if they were ‘White’ and breaking down to native, foreign-born, and nativity unknown. The end of the list accounts for the ‘Colored’ that only breaks down totals for that group. Truly details out the time of what segregation looked like within the medical world classification.



What was the patients' experience like in that institution, and did that change over the course of the institution's history?


After some years with adding on some buildings, they did this to make it feel more ‘home-like’. The name was changed in the early 1900s to New Hampshire State Hospital. They became the top known in the state for the insane. From reports of staff, they followed all the institution like behaviors for managing patients. 

Did the institution, its services, and patients change over time?


Reports of in the beginning that the difficult patients were housed within the basement. The lack of staffing for a large number of patients where it was rumored for 1 to every 50. Minimal daylight for the rooms they were kept in. Followed medical practices at the same for managing patients without medications. Reports of being cold with the lack of heat there. Appears to have gotten better over time with their expansion into a large hospital. After the institution closed, there is a portion of the new layout for psychiatric care where it is one of the largest parts of the hospital to this day.

 

How many people lived, worked, and died there? 

Roughly 2,000 people lived there over the years before changing the name and adding more buildings. After that, it was the top asylum in the state. 


The one-piece of real hard data I found was of a census done in the year 1910 with 876 people total and 145 died. At that time in the day, the patients without families were buried nearby. That cemetery was renamed but is apparently still there!


Were bad conditions ever exposed to the public? How?

Honestly, it was hard to find information on this place that made it feel like there was a lot that went on that remains kept a secret. There were a few things from former staff and a former college student. Interestingly, I watched a video that’s posted below that in the same county that Stafford County Asylum burned down to the ground in a fire with the majority of all its patients inside, all staff got out and only 3 patients. This was reported at the start of the movement to close small asylum’s in counties and only house in the state one that expanded the buildings. 


Even though the information here for this location is scarce, I believe this brings up a unique unheard side of institutional history. For the number of things that were not reported, not taken seriously, and following societal views. There was a book from 1898 specifically on it but no online copy of it to review. Interestingly enough as well, many sources report that it is haunted from those days for why once rebuilding happened that they just abandoned the building. It is still there for many years just sitting there with no alternative use. 


Would you have wanted "treatment" in this institution?

The overall impression I get on these institutions is that people should be thankful to be there because they weren’t wanted anywhere else. I would never want to live like that! Institution treatments during that time were utterly disturbing and having experiences like that would make life a whole lot harder today. I am a complete believer that negative environments, experiences, and treatment create trauma for a person. Those are events you never forget no matter how hard you try and they shape who you are and your impressions. I would be heartbroken if I had to view the medical system like that where I did not have any trust in it. To be more afraid inside than outside is terrifying and I would not wish it on anyone. 



References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5086946/?page=9 (go to pg. 281)


https://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Concord_State_Hospital


https://1037thepeak.com/this-will-give-you-chills-up-your-spine-tour-this-1842-insane-asylum-in-concord-nh-watch/


https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/nhh/history.htm


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5nwcFz58_I


https://www.concordmonitor.com/Archive/2013/03/stimmell-cmview-031413


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KmzDAx08RQ


https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/03322287no111-121ch6.pdf

(go to pg. 14)

2 comments:

  1. I was really struck by the hospital's categorization process. It surprised me that not only were patients separated by gender but also by race. I wonder if certain racial wings received poorer treatment than the "white" wing. If I had to surmise, I would guess that unfortunately the white wing did receive better treatment than the non-white wings. Nowadays I associate mental health treatment and mental health professionals as being a safe haven. Ironic that during the 1800s and early 1900s these places were anything but a safe haven. So ironic that people went to these hospitals to improve their mental health but instead often lost more of their sanity!

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  2. Obviously natural sunlight is the least of some individual's problems, however just thinking for myself I would go absolutely bonkers if I was kept in a building that lacked all natural light. That is a huge thing for me. It does sound like this facility did follow Kirkbride's design in that they separated men and women, other than that I did not see much similarity.

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