Call Number:

CDG-A.Barton, Harold

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

1.2 linear ft. (15 linear inches)

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Harold Barton Collected Papers (CDG-A), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1944-1949 (bulk)

Creator:

Barton, Harold E. L., 1916-2005

Abstract:

In the early 1940s National Mental Health Foundation originated in 1944-1945 when Harold Barton and three associates, serving at Byberry State Hospital in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), announced plans for a national campaign to improve the conditions in mental hospitals. The exposure of these conditions through the efforts of men serving in CPS, and their efforts to be a nonviolent presence in mental institutions, began a new movement in mental health care in the U.S. The National Mental Health Foundation still exists today as the National Mental Health Association.

This collection helps to document the growth of interest in mental health (or mental hygiene as it was called in the middle of the twentieth century), among men and women involved with Civilian Public Service in World War II. The seeds of the National Mental Health Foundation were planted in 1944-1945 when Harold Barton and three associates, serving at Byberry State Hospital in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), announced plans for a national campaign to improve the conditions in mental hospitals. This, in part, stemmed from their own anger and frustration at the appalling treatment of patients they found at Byberry, where the lack of trained personnel (due to the war effort), severely limited the ability of care for patients according to hospital administrators' standards. Barton's diary notes and other material found in this collection provide important eyewitness accounts of the struggle to treat patients as humanely as possible. The exposure of these conditions through the efforts of men serving in CPS, and their efforts to be a nonviolent presence in mental institutions, began a new movement in mental health care in the U.S. The National Mental Health Foundation still exists today as the National Mental Health Association.

The Harold Barton papers are divided into several sections: his papers regarding his service in CPS and work at Byberry State Hospital; his efforts to form and administer the Mental Hygiene Program of CPS; his involvement -- as a part of CPS and beyond -- with the National Mental Health Foundation; and, reference material about mental hospitals and treatment/care of patients.