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Friends Hospital records
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Friends Hospital was founded by Philadelphia-area Quakers in 1813 under the name 'The Asylum for Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason.' Their mission statement was: "To provide for the suitable accommodation of persons who are or may be deprived of the use of their reason and the maintenance of an asylum for their reception, which is intended to furnish, besides requisite medical aid, such tender, sympathetic attention as may soothe their agitated minds, and under the Divine Blessing, facilitate their recovery." In 1817, the hospital accepted its first patients. Friends Asylum was the first private psychiatric hospital in the United States, and one of the first mental hospitals to use moral treatment, which eschewed corporal punishment for the patients and advocated treating them with respect and compassion. Moral treatment at the Asylum included occupational and recreational therapy, and was deeply influenced by the founders' Quaker principles. Moral treatment was thought to be more effective in curing insanity than medical treatment, although the Asylum did also provide medical treatment on occasion. Early medical treatments at the Asylum included blisters and cold baths. In 1827, the hospital expanded, adding two new patient wings. In 1834, the hospital opened its doors to patients who were not Quakers, expanding the hospital's reach. In 1879, Friends Hospital built a greenhouse to facilitate horticultural therapy for the patients. By this point, medical treatment had increased in the hospital. In 1880, the hospital's capacity increased once again to allow 90 more patients. In 1885, the hospital opened a short-lived convalescent home, Gurney Cottage, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Friends Hospital was one of the first psychiatric hospitals to employ female doctors; in 1889, Anna Broomall, M.D., was appointed as a consulting doctor. A two year training school for nurses opened at Friends Hospital in 1894, providing certifications in general and psychiatric nursing. In 1911, Friends Hospital expanded its property once again, covering approximately 100 acres, and in 1916, a 326 acre farm in Trevose was added to the property holdings. On this farm, the Bensalem Mansion was opened to Friends Hospital patients as a convalescent home. In 1922, the Hospital built the Hygeia Building, which was used for hydrotherapy, a treatment which had been used in various ways since the Hospital's earliest years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Bonsall and Tuke Buildings were added to the hospital grounds, which increased the patient capacity to 192, which remains the current capacity. Friends Hospital was accredited as a training site by the American Psychological Association in 1979. In 1980, the Greystone Program opened, composed of the Greystone house and, in 1989, the additional Hillside house, which provide long-term and sometimes permanent community residence to house and treat those living with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The hospital's Eating Disorders program opened in 1996, and was one of the only programs of its kind in the area that treated both children and males. In 1998, Friends Hospital opened the Larkspur Crisis Response Center, which provides treatment for upwards of 6,000 patients per year. Friends Hospital was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1999, and in 2000 U.S. News and World Report ranked Friends Hospital as one of the top psychiatric hospitals in the country. This success continued in 2002, when six of the hospital's psychiatrists were ranked among the region's top doctors by Philadelphia Magazine. In 2010, Friends Hospital opened the first inpatient Recovery Oriented Unit in Philadelphia. Friends Hospital still operates under its original mission statement. (Information from Friends Hospital website, Carol Perloff's The Asylum, and Friends' Asylum for the Insane, 1813-1913).
This collection represents the history of the Friends Hospital (originally the Asylum for Persons Deprived of the Use of their Reason), spanning the years 1812-2000. The collection contains five series: Administrative Records, Financial Records, Hospital Records, Published Materials, and Visual Materials. Administrative Records contains annual reports spanning from 1816 to 1997; orientation manuals; correspondence; foundational records such as deeds and charters; governance records such as rules for the Asylum; and records and minutes of several committees, including Board of Managers, Contributors, Executive, and Planning. The Financial Records series includes receipts for the building of the Hospital, cash books, appraisals, account ledgers, daybooks, investment books, and contributors' records. The Hospital Records series contains case histories; admission records; patient and staff records; records of programs like the School of Nursing and Horticulture; information on the building and grounds; and memorabilia. Published Materials contains materials written by and/or about the Hospital, newsletters, and pamphlets pertaining to various subjects. The Visual Materials series contains photographs, land surveys and maps, slides, and audiovisual materials.
Materials are arranged in five series.
- Subseries I
- Admission Committee Records
- Subseries II
- Annual Reports
- Subseries III
- Board of Managers Records
- Subseries IV
- Contributors Records
- Subesries V
- Corporation Records
- Subseries VI
- Correspondence
- Subseries VII
- Executive Committee Records
- Subseries VIII
- Foundation and Governance Records
- Subseries IX
- Planning Committee Records
- Subseries X
- Visiting Committee Records
- Subseries I
- Account Books and Ledgers
- Subseries II
- Accounting Information
- Subseries III
- Appraisals
- Subseries IV
- Bills and Receipts
- Subseries V
- Donations and Contributions Records
- Subseries VI
- Investment Records
- Subseries I
- Admission Records
- Subseries II
- Buildings and Grounds
- Subseries III
- Case Histories
- Subseries IV
- Daily Records
- Subseries V
- Horticulture Program
- Subseries VI
- Medical Records
- Subseries VII
- Memorabilia
- Subseries VIII
- Patients
- Subseries IX
- School of Nursing
- Subseries X
- Staff
- Subseries XI
- Superintendent Records
- Subseries I
- Friends Hospital
- Subseries II
- Newsletters
- Subseries III
- Pamphlets
- Subseries I
- Audiovisual Materials
- Subseries II
- Photographs
- Subseries III
- Slides
Digitized copies of the Superintendent's Day Books, volumes 1 and 2, are available online at:
http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/search/collection/HC_DigReq/searchterm/Superintendent%27s%20Daybook/field/title/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title
Digitized copies of the Friends Hospital Annual Reports, 1818-1835, are available online at:
http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/search/collection/HC_DigReq/searchterm/Friends%20Hospital%20Annual%20Report/field/title/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title
On deposit from Friends Hospital and the Scattergood Foundation, 1968 and 2015, and from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1976. Purchased from Robert Batchelder, acc. no. 5102.
Processed by Natalia Gutierrez-Jones; completed November, 2015. Revised by Abigail Corcoran; completed June, 2016. Collection reprocessed by project archivist Alison Sielaff in 2019 and 2020.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Natalia Gutierrez-Jones and Alison Sielaff
- Finding Aid Date
- November, 2015; March 2020
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
One book which contains the register of patient information from 1817-1856 (dates patient entered, who paid their surety, their rate of board, and their date of discharge). Although it lists patients from 1817-1856, the register was compiled starting in 1839. The back of the register also includes the minutes of the visiting committee from 1839-1856.
The Board of Managers, made up of twenty contributors chosen at the Yearly Meeting of Contributors, was responsible for the business of Friends Asylum. The Board of Managers approved the admission and boarding rate of new patients, as well as supervised the Asylum's finances and employees. The Managers Minutes contain information about the admission and boarding rate of patients, as well as information about purchases made for the Asylum.
The Building Committee planned and supervised the construction of Friends Asylum. This is volume of minutes with information about the decisions the Committee came to concerning issues like paint color, windows, door locks, etc. They put a lot of thought into their architectural decisions because, according to the tenets of moral treatment, architecture influenced patients' recovery. The volume also contains a blueprint of the hospital site and a record of donations of furniture.
(Information from "A Mild and Appropriate System of Treatment": Moral Treatment and the Curability of Mental Illness at Friends Asylum" by Abigail Corcoran)
The contributors who financed Friends Asylum (both individual Quakers and Monthly Meetings) met at the Yearly Meeting of Contributors to make large decisions about the welfare of the Asylum. Each Monthly Meeting that contributed $200 a year and each individual who contributed $10 a year or $50 at once was called a member of the institution. The Monthly Meetings were expected to send an agent to the Yearly Meeting of the Contributors, and were allowed to recommend one patient at lowest terms of admittance. The minutes contain information about the decisions that the Contributors made, as well as data about patients admitted, donations and legacies received, Asylum finances, and the Contributors' finances. Minutes between 1828 and 1836 were lost in a fire; some were reconstructed and are present in sketchy form in volume 2. (Information from "A Mild and Appropriate System of Treatment": Moral Treatment and the Curability of Mental Illness at Friends Asylum" by Abigail Corcoran)
The Plan for the Asylum is an announcement from 1812 about the plan to create the Friends Asylum. The Letters to the Contributors are from the Board of Managers, and they contain information about buying land for the Asylum, contructing it, and, once the Asylum opened, information about how many patients there were in the Asylum, and their condition.
The Friends Asylum for the Insane was founded as a corporation May 12th, 1888 under the provisions of the Corporation Act of 1874. The minutes of the corporation contain information such as new memberships, election of new officers or removal of officers, rules regarding managers' duties, treasurers' duties, and generally how the Asylum is to be run. They also include managers' reports, auditors' reports, and communication with the Board, as well as occasional financial records from the treasurer. The Managers' longer Annual Report is also included, with much detail about the state of the Hospital and its patients, as well as potential changes.
A subset of the Board, the Visiting Managers were responsible for visiting and inspecting Friends Asylum once a week and for inspecting the superintendent's account book once a month. This series includes typed and handwritten reports, with names of the visitors, descriptions of the visit, and updates regarding the Asylum grounds, finances, and patients. The back of the Minutes and Register of the Committee of Admission also contains Visiting Committee minutes from 1839-1856, although those years are covered by their own volumes here as well. (Information from "A Mild and Appropriate System of Treatment": Moral Treatment and the Curability of Mental Illness at Friends Asylum" by Abigail Corcoran)
Account ledgers: These ledgers record the hospital's expenses, accounts, and capital. Volume 1, which is from the early nineteenth century, focuses on payment from patients.
Cash books: These ledgers describe the petty cash disbursements of the hospital, essentially spending money for the staff. For example, some categories are petty cash, administrative miscellaneous, postage, maintenance supplies, household supplies, dietary provisions, etc.
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These bills are for the initial construction of Friends Asylum. They cover all aspects of the Asylum's construction, including buying wood, bricks, and plaster, as well as paying workmen to contruct the Asylum.
Lists of contributors: The first volume lists donations given by bequest, names of persons who have contributed $50 or more, names of people who have contributed $10 a year, names of monthly meetings who have contributed and are entitled to membership (can recommend one patient at lowest admission), and names of people who have given money, but may not be members. There is an extra piece of paper in the volume about subscriptions and a part of someone's will.
1817 certificate identifies Oliver Parry as a contributor to Friends Asylum. Certificate was purchased from Robert Batchelder, acc. 5102.
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Two volumes, one labeled investment journal and the other investment book, which record the reclassification of finances, and changes to the endowment. The journal also contains various income accounts: the free bed account, the permanent maintenance fund, etc. The book was kept by the executive branch, and includes contributions, legacies, and investments.
Admission books: The admission books list, in table form, all admitted patients, and include some supplementary information such as their diagnoses, professions, and patient numbers. Volume 2 includes patient discharge information for 1883 through 1892.
Admission forms and physicians notes: To be admitted to Friends Asylum, patients needed to have a letter from a physician certifying that they were insane. These boxes include those physician's letters, as well as standardized admission and discharge forms. The admission forms record what the patient's board was, and contain information about how long the patient had been insane when admitted, any medical treatments that had been tried, if the patient was a harm to themselves or others, etc. Arranged by patient number, low to high, with unfolded contents following each envelope. The last folders containing patient numbers in the 2000s more frequently skip over segments of patient numbers. Earlier in the series, there are occasionally envelopes with patient numbers and admission dates that do not actually hold contents.
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Casebooks: The casebooks in this subseries contain comprehensive patient medical records, which vary slightly by book. They provide information about the patients' condition, and what treatment doctors tried on them. Casebook 6 is less detailed, and contains monthly records of admissions and discharges. Casebook 3 contains autopsy reports for patients who died. There is no casebooks numbered 1.
Case histories: These are standardized forms which record physical examinations of patients: respiratory, digestive, nervous and muscular system all surveyed. They also include a history of patients during infancy, childhood, youth, symptoms, duration, etc. Includes what seem to be graphs charting patients' urine samples. Also includes letters about patients by doctors or family members, which often contain the patients' medical histories, as well as one letter by a patient herself (box 20).
Alice Jastrow is missing a case number.
Hinchman brought suit in 1849 against relatives and personnel of Friends Asylum for incarcerating him against his will. This volume contains newspaper clippings recounting the trial in great detail.
The Daily Record Books contain a form, which allowed a staff member at the Hospital to record details about how the patients spent their time, and about their treatment, in shorthand. A key explains the shorthand meanings in the upper corner of each page. Most of the Daily Record Books record each patient in a ward's activity, diet, and habits, with each page of the book representing one ward for one month. The Daily Report of the Head Nurse records how many patients on each ward were involved in various activities, and also records what the menu at the Hospital was each day.
Gurney Cottage was a convalescent home established in Atlantic City for nervous and recovering patients from Friends Asylum. This diary appears to be written by the matron, who ran the Cottage with help from nurses, a local doctor, and weekly visits from the Asylum superintendent. The diary contains highly domestic and detailed subject matter, regarding weather, errands, visitors, state of the patients, etc. Gurney Cottage closed in 1889.
Patient Correspondence: These letters concern Friends Hospital patients, and span from December 15, 1894, to June 30th, 1895. They are generally inquiries about patients (from friends and family), inquiries about payment, or applications for admission of individuals to Friends Hospital.The letters are alphabetized by the author of the letter.
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The Hospital filled out this survey for the State of Pennsylvania Committee on Lunacy. The form includes data about the hospital's finances, the number of patients in the institution, where they are from, their civil condition, occupation, what type of insanity they suffer from, the cause of their insanity, etc. The survey also includes questions about the hospital's use of restraint on patients, patient occupation, the hospital's library, and patients' religious activities.
File contains materials created by and about Dr. Chase
The superintendent of Friends Asylum and the matron (his wife) answered to the Visiting Managers, and they were responsible for the day-to-day welfare of the patients, as well as running the farm and the household. The superintendent and matron also oversaw the caretakers, or keepers, who supervised, cleaned, and entertained the patients. The Daybooks consist of daily entries about life at the Asylum, including entries on how patients were acting, what tasks they were involved in, and any visitors to the Asylum. They were meant to provide a record for future superintendents about how to run the Asylum. Originally, superintendents wrote daily entries in the Day Books, providing a rich picture of life at the Asylum in the early nineteenth century. By the 1840s, superintendents had switched to writing weekly entries, which give less detail about day-to-day life.
Volume 1 of the Superintendent's Day Books is digitized and available at:
https://digitalcollections.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/object/hc34703
Volume 2 of the Superintendent's Day Books is digitized and available at:
https://digitalcollections.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/object/hc34704
These were brochures likely used for prospective patients and their caretakers, giving overviews of the hospital.
This newsletter is from the Friends Hospital in conjunction with the Jefferson Medical College Program for Mental Health Education, Research, and Patient Care. The newsletter contains short articles on the Friends Jefferson program, mental health news, and events at Friends Hospital. The collection has 2 copies of each issue, which were published 3 times a year from April 1965 to April 1967. They were edited by Malcolm Rose.
Two tapes of the Friends Hospital groundbreaking from August 23, 1975. From the date, we speculate that the groundbreaking is of the Bonsall and Tuke buildings, which were completed between 1970 and 1980.
Physical Description1 boxes