Main content
Harold Barton Collected Papers
Notifications
Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore 19081-1399
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 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
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.
The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these papers.
Gift of Lois Barton, August 2006 [acc. 06A-042].
Processed by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, October 2006.
Photos of Barton and others, as well as photos of conditions at Byberry State Hospital, were removed to the SCPC Photograph Collection. Photographs by Charles Lord.
People
Organization
- Civilian Public Service. Mental Hygiene Program
- Civilian Public Service. Camp (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Byberry State Hospital (Pa.)
- National Mental Health Foundation
Subject
- Conscientious Objectors -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Psychiatric hospitals -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- History -- Sources
- Psychiatric hospitals -- United States
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscientious Objectors -- United States -- Sources
- Pacifists -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Quakers -- Oregon -- Eugene -- History -- Sources
- Publisher
- Swarthmore College Peace Collection
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research use.
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
- Use Restrictions
-
There are usage restrictions on photographs in this collection.
Collection Inventory
[1/2 box]
[1/2 box]
[1/2 box]
[1/2 box]
[1/2 box]