Brattleboro Retreat

Dublin Core

Title

Brattleboro Retreat

Subject

history of madness
insane asylums
psychiatric hospitals
addiction treatment

Description

The Brattleboro Retreat was founded in 1834 as the Vermont Asylum for the Insane. Though private, the institution served as the State's only asylum until the Vermont State Hospital was opened in 1891. While the latter institution closed in 2011, the Retreat continues to operate today.

Creator

Holly Allen, Middlebury College

Publisher

Middlebury College

Date

1834-present

Contributor

Sam Montgomery, Alec Brownlee

Language

English

Collection Items

"Vermont Asylum for the Insane," The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Nov 28, 1838, 17-19.
This article summarizes the 1838 Annual Report of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, which it describes as a “well-conducted institution.” While noting that the Asylum lacks funds to complete necessary building improvements, it praises Dr. Rockwell…

"Vermont Asylum for the Insane," The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Jan 3, 1838; 17, 22.
Commenting on the first annual report of the Trustees and Physicians of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, the editors of The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal wrote in January, 1838: “[I]t gave us great pleasure to read it, because it shows the…

“Vermont Insane Asylum. A shocking Condition of Affairs - Result of the Investigation of a Legislative Committee,” Boston Daily Globe, Jul 11, 1873, 1.
The article quotes extensively from the Legislative Committee’s 1873 Report into the Vermont Insane Asylum. The report characterizes the institution as terribly overcrowded, inadequately warm and ventilated, and prison-like. Committee members…

ART. VIII.--Vermont and Ohio Asylums for the Insane.<br /><br /> Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy , Jan 1845; 1, 1.
The article offers highlights of the 1844 Annual Reports of the Vermont and Ohio Asylums for the Insane. In describing the Vermont Asylum at Brattleboro, the article notes the institution's expanded facilities and, in excerpts from the report…

&quot;Supposed Cause of Insanity,&quot; Report of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, 1890.
Interesting to note is the significant growth in the number of causes of insanity. Especially interesting causes include, "Loss of property," "Menstrual derangement," "Extraction of teeth" and "Business Troubles."

&quot;Form and Complication of Diseases in Patients Admitted,&quot; Vermont Insane Asylum, 1880.
In 1880 there were few categories of insanity. Tables of Principle Psychoses from later years show the growth in recognizing diversity in mental illness.

Reports of the Officers of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, Brattleboro, Vermont, 1856-1876.
This collection of official reports of the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, while not comprehensive, contains important information about the changing administrative and medical practices and perspectives regarding the inmate population at the Asylum. …

Joseph Draper, The Vermont Asylum for the Insane: Its Annals for Fifty Years (Brattleboro: Hildreth and Fales, 1887).
Written by the superintendent of the institution, this lengthy history is generally favorable to the officers, medical staff, and trustees of the Brattleboro Insane Asylum. It contains useful illustrations and tabular data and it also engages some…

&quot;The Vermont Insane Asylum,&quot; Massachusetts Ploughman and New England Journal of Agriculture, Jul 19, 1873; 32, 42.
This brief article reacts to the Vermont Legislature's findings of “a most horrible and almost incredible condition of affairs in the Vermont Insane Asylum."

Brattleboro Retreat, from the Biennial Report of the Supervisors of the Insane for 1893-94.
A print reproduction of a photograph of the buildings and grounds of the Brattleboro Retreat.
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