Asylums Undercover
Reportage
Description
Since the 1870s, journalists have been posing as patients or attendants to expose horrid conditions and treatment inside mental hospitals. Nellie Bly, incidentally, was not the first.
Articles, Books, Video/Film
I-"I Was A Mental Patient At Kings County" - Michael Mok - New York World Telegram and Sun | Scared children, depraved men, jammed in wards; reporter reveals overcrowding and inadequate staff
March 15, 1961
This is the first article in the World-Telegram's series called "I Was a Mental Patient" by reporter Michael Mok. ...II-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Inmates sleep on floor, mutter, stare into corner
March 16, 1961
In part two of the World-Telegram's series, Mok describes how he gained admittance to the hospital and his first ...II-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Ward 51 - Nightmare Of Violence
March 17, 1961
In the third article of his "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Mok meets other patients at Kings County and learns ...IV-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Crowds Turn Visiting Hour Into Bedlam
March 18, 1961
In this fourth installment of his "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Mok describes the chaos of visiting hour at Kings ...V-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Outside World Helps Lessen Boredom
March 20, 1961
In the fifth article of the "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Michael Mok describes the excruciating boredom he ...VI-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | In Ward 33 Only Delusion is Bearable
March 21, 1961
In the sixth installment of the "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Mok describes the condition of Ward 33 of Kings ...VII-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Entering Hospital Easier Than Exit
March 22, 1961
In the seventh article, Mok describes the ordeal of convincing his psychiatrist to release him from Kings County ...VIII-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Ward Miseries Are Worse for Women
March 23, 1961
In the eighth, and second to last, installment of his "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Mok relays the experience of ...IX-"I Was A Mental Patient" - Michael Mok - New York Telegram and Sun | Frightened Youngsters Put In With Depraved
March 24, 1961
In the ninth and final installment of his "I Was a Mental Patient" series, Mok summarizes what he believes to be the ...I-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Reporter's Experience at Kankakee
July 15, 1935
This is the first article in the "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" series by Chicago Daily Times reporter Frank Smith. ...II-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Reporter Takes Kankakee 'Water Cure'
July 16, 1935
In this second installment to the series, Smith describes in detail his stay in Kankakee's hydrotherapy ward, where ...III-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Reporter's Night of Terror at Kankakee POOR SCAN - REDO
July 17, 1935
In his third installment of the series "Seven Days in the Madhouse," Frank Smith describes being finally released ...IV-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | 'Death Cup' Perils Kankakee Inmates
July 18, 1935
In this fourth installment of "Seven Days in the Madhouse" Smith runs into two patients who recognize him, nearly ...V-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times Seven Days in the Madhouse! | Railroaded to Kankakee as Insane
July 19, 1935
In the fifth installment of "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" Frank Smith speaks with Oscar, a fellow mental patient at ...VI-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Haunted by Kankakee Fire Hazards
July 22, 1935
In this sixth installment of his "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" series, reporter Frank Smith receives his clothes and ...VII-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Crazy Rhythm Dance at Kankakee
July 23, 1935
The seventh and one of the more amusing installments in his "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" series, here Frank Smith ...VIII-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Attempted Suicide at Kankakee Hospital
July 24, 1935
In this eighth article in the "Seven Days in the Madhouse!" series, Frank Smith reveals his conversations with ...IX-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Water Perils Inmates at Kankakee
July 25, 1935
In this ninth, and second to last, installment of the Times' "Seven Days in a Madhouse" series, Frank Smith details ...X-"Seven Days in the Madhouse!" - Frank Smith - Chicago Daily Times | Freedom! Reporter Leaves Kankakee
July 26, 1935
In the tenth and final story about his week spent undercover at Illinois' Kankakee psychiatric hospital, Frank Smith ...I-"Personal Experience: Central State Conditions Found Poor" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 20, 1974
The first piece in an undercover series based on Frank Sutherland's time spent posing as a patient at Central State, ...II-"Reporter Finds Hospital Stay "Demoralizing" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 21, 1974
The second piece in Sutherland's series on Central State Psychiatric Hospital, based on a month spent undercover as ...III-"Aides, Many Untrained, Run Central State" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 22, 1974
Sutherland's time spent undercover as a mental patient at Central State Psychiatric Hospital uncovers the influence ...IV-"Christmas Means Joyless Tension in Locked Ward" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 23, 1974
Sutherland describes Christmas in Central State Psychiatric Hospital, where he was posing as a patient for a month, ...V-"Skimpy, Unprofessional Patient File Reveals Inadequate Treatment" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 24, 1974
Sutherland sends "his" medical records from time spent undercover at a mental hospital in Nashville to three ...VI-"'Ward Meeting' Breaks Silence" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 25, 1974VII-"Hospital Complex Old, Battered, But In Use" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 26, 1974VII-"State Help Dire Need at Hospital" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 27, 1974VIII-"Officials Agree Central State Needs Reform" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 28, 1974IX-"State Mental Hospitals 'Could Lose Millions'" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
January 29, 1974"Mental Health Fund Needed" - Frank Sutherland Series - Nashville Tennessean
January 31, 1974Editorial: "State's Mentally Ill Deserve Better Care" - Sutherland series - Nashville Tennessean
January 22, 1974Followup: "Tragle Raps Hospital Critics" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
February 24, 1974Followup: "Central State Needs Action Right Now" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
March 3, 1974Followup: "Central State Woes Reflected at East State Hospital" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
February 10, 1974Editorial: "Mental Health Deserves Top Assembly Priority" - Sutherland series - Nashville Tennessean
January 31, 1974Followup: "Report Urges Central State Improvements" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
February 19, 1974Followup: "Change in Central State Role, Scope Advised" - Frank Sutherland - Nashville Tennessean
February 21, 1974Curtain-Raiser: "A Genuine Investigation of Bloomingdale Asylum" - [Julius Chambers] - New York Tribune
August 28, 1872
Curtain-raiser and explanation for the undercover investigation of the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum by reporter ...II-"Among the Maniacs" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune | AMONG THE MANIACS: FOUR DAYS IN THE EXCITED WARDS OF BLOOMINGDALE A NIGHT OF HORROR AMONG RAVING PATIENTS --SLEEP DISTURBED BY AGONIZED CRIES OF THE DANGEROUS IDIOTS--CLOSE CELLS, UNCOMFORTABLE BEDS AND CHAIRS, SCANTY AND FOUL FOOD, FILTHY BATHS, AND RUDE AND VULGAR ATTENDANTS--NO AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, OR READING MATTER--IMBECILE BOYS EXPOSED NAKED TO THE SUN, AND VENERABLE BLIND MEN BEATEN BY ENRAGED KEEPERS--INSTANCES OF BRUTAL TREATMENT WITNESSED BY THE TRIBUNE REPORTER BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM THE REPORTER GETS A REST THE EXCITED WARDS ANOTHER SEARCH SUBMITTED TO A NIGHT OF HORROR THE APPOINTMENTS OF A MANIAC WARD A MANIAC'S MORNING MEAL A LAT IN THE WARD HOW THE PATIENTS DINE "SPEAR TO THE DOCTOR" INCIDENTS OF LIFE IN THE LODGE A CASE OF BRUTALITY ATTENDANTS' HABITS AND LANGUAGE PRIVILEGES WHICH ARE DENIED THE McCABE LUNACY CASE MADHOUSES AND THEIR METHODS
August 31, 1872
Chambers' report of his four days incarcerated as a mental patient at the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum, having ...I-"The Lunacy Law Tested" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune | THE LUNACY LAW TESTED: HOW TO IMPRISON A SANE MAN AND WHAT IT COSTS MEDICAL SCIENCE AT FAULT--AN EXAMINATION CONFINED TO THE COUNTING OF THE PULSE-- AN EXPERT DECIDES A LUNACY CASE IN LESS THAN ONE MINUTE--A POLICE JUSTICE COMMITS WITHOUT THE EXAMINATION REQUIRED BY LAW, THOUGH CERTIFYING THE EXAMINATION WAS MADE--THE STRICTEST REGULATIONS OF THE ASYLUM EVADED BY ITS PHYSICIAN MEMORANDA THE REPORTER'S STORY THE BRANDY TEST OF INSANITY A FAILURE A MEDICAL EXAMINATION BLOOMINGDALE SUGGESTED THE PHYSICIANS ALLOWED TO DRAW THEIR OWN INFERENCES THE NIGHT WITH THE NORSE OPENING THE BALL THE MOMENT OF CONQUEST ANOTHER ATTACK ON THE NURSE ANOTHER RELAPSE AND EXAMINATION WATCHED BY THE MEDICAL STUDENT RETURN OF THE PHYSICIAN RESULTS OF THE CONSULTATION SWEARING AWAY A MAN'S WITS THE ASYLUM REGULATIONS IN THEORY THE ASYLUM REGULATIONS IN PRACTICE A PERMIT OBTAINED WHAT IT COSTS TO IMPRISON A SANE MAN
August 29, 1872
Opening article by Julius Chambers describing his four-day incarceration at the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum and how ...Comment: "Lunacy Treatment" - Unsigned - New York Tribune
August 31, 1872
Commentary on the Julius Chambers undercover investigation of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum.Comment: "Bloomingdale Once More" - Unsigned - New York Tribune
September 3, 1872
A summation of the results of Julius Chambers' undercover investigation of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum and the ...IV-"More About Bloomingdale" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune | A WEEK'S EXPERIENCE IN THE QUIET WARDS A "SECOND-CLASS BOARDING-HOUSE" FOR COMPULSORY BOARDERS--FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE TREATMENT--A CLEAR PROFIT ON THE WEEKLY INCOME OF $947 A WEEK--ANXIETY OF THE PHYSICIANS TO GET RID OF PATIENTS FOR WHOM WRITS OF HABEAS HAVE BEEN SECURED TRANSFERRED TO QUIET WARDS AMUSEMENTS, COMFORTS, AND PRIVILEGES THE LIBRARY HALL VII THE CHANGE OF A WEEK DR. BURRILL'S OPINION OF THE ... A HARMLESS LETTER STOPPED CORRESPONDENCE NOT ENCOURAGED THE FIRST SIGHT OF A FRIEND THE KIND OF LETTERS INTERCEPTED THE LAST DAYS IN BLOOMINGDALE SPRINGING THE TRAP INTERVIEW WITH DR. DROWN THE PATIENT UNWILLING THE VIRTUE OF A WAIT DR. BROWN STILL ANXIOUS A DECIDEDLY UNPROFESSIONAL VISIT RELIGIOUS SERVICES THE DOCTOR'S ROUND THE CONFINEMENT OF A PRISON THREATS OF "THE LODGE." PRIVATE MESSAGES CANNOT BE GOT OUT A MOST ANNOYING DELAY THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS AND WHAT THEY PAY THE REPORTER'S AFFIDAVIT
September 3, 1872III-"Abuses of Lunatics" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune | PUBLIC SENTIMENT AROUSED AND REFORM DEMANDED DEFECTIVE LUNACY LAWS IN MASSACHUSETTS FURTHER TESTIMONY OF VALUE HOW A $3,000 A YEAR PATIENT WAS TREATED PROPOSED LUNACY LEGISLATION NEWSPAPER COMMENTS A CLEAR CALM. TRUTHFUL STORY PAINFUL DISCLOSURES DEMANDING REFORM WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED A DISGRACE TO CIVILIZATION WHAT IS PROVED BY THE TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION A GREAT SERVICE DONE TO THE PUBLIC AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF DEVELOPING THE TRUTH TRUE AMERICAN JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE THE VENERABLE DEFENDER OF THE ASYLUM AGAIN A REPLY TO THE POST NEED OF THE JURY SYSTEM DEMONSTRATED NEWSPAPER DISCOVERERS AND DETECTIVES THE EVIL OF PRIVATE ASYLUMS THE OBVIOUS REMEDY PROOF POSITIVE PAY THE PENALTY OF MISMANAGEMENT PLUCKING TRUTH FROM THE WEL
September 2, 1872
Brief article describing public outcry in response to Chambers' investigation of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum.Geraldo Rivera's "Willowbrook: A Report On How It Is and Why It Doesn't Have to Be That Way"
1972Willowbrook: The Last Disgrace - Geraldo Rivera - WABC-TV
January 6, 1972
Investigative reporter, Geraldo Rivera's exposé documentary of the Willowbrook State School. The exposé revealed ..."'Nellie Brown's' Story" - Unsigned - New York World | The Widespread Interest Caused by "The World's" Publication; Her Sad Experience the Talk of the Town; Its Truthfulness Acknowledged at Bellevue; Nurses and Doctors Admit They Were Deceived; Warden O'Rourke's Sagacity; The Ambulance Surgeon Explains
October 10, 1887Behind Asylum Bars Reaction: "Nellie Bly Led the Way" - Unsigned - New York World | The Grand Jury Reports on Abuses at Blackwell's Island Asylum; Its Eyes Opened by THE WORLD's Account of the Horrors of the Place - Condemning the Junior Physicians and the Nurses as Incompetent - Recommending the Employment of Female Doctors
November 3, 1887II - "Inside the Madhouse" - Nellie Bly - New York World | II - "Nellie Bly's Experience in the Blackwell's Island Asylum; Continuation of the Story of Ten Days with Lunatics; How the City's Unfortunate Wards Are Fed and Treated; The Terrors of Cold Baths and Cruel, Unsympathetic Nurses; Attendants Who Harass and Abuse Patients and Laugh at Their Miseries"
October 16, 1887
Part II of Bly's report on her 10 days incarcerated in the women's lunatic asylum on Blackwell's Island.I - "Behind Asylum Bars" - Nellie Bly - New York World | The Mystery of the Unknown Insane Girl; Remarkable Story of the Successful Impersonation of Insanity; How Nellie Brown Deceived Judges, Reporters and Medical Experts; She Tells Her Story of How She Passed at Bellevue Hospital; Studying the Role of Insanity Before Her Mirror and Practicing It at the Temporary Home for Women; Arrested and Brought Before Judge Duffy; He Declares She is Some Mother's Darling and Resembles His Sister; Committed to the Care of the Physicians for the Insane at Bellevue; Experts Declare Her Demented; Harsh Treatment of the Insane at Bellevue; "Charity Patients Should Not Complain"; Vivid Pictures of Hospital Life; How Our Esteemed Contemporaries Have Followed a False Trail; Some Needed LIght Afforded Them; Chapters of Absorbing Interest in the Experience of a Feminine "Amateur Casual."
October 9, 1887
The first in Bly's two-part series on her experiences incarcerated for 10 days in the women's lunatic asylum on ...Nellie Bly's "Ten Days in a Madhouse"
1887"The Nellie Brown Mystery" - Unsigned - New York World | Her Story as Told from Day to Day by the City Newspapers; From the Sun, Sunday, Sept 25, WHO IS THIS INSANE GIRL? She Is Pretty, Well Dressed and Speaks Spanish; She Wandered Into Matron Stenard's Home for Women and Asked for a Pistol to Protect Herself; Is Her Name Marina?
October 9, 1887
The New York World reprints an article from the Sept. 25, 1887 New York Sun as well as reporting from the city's ...Reaction: "Friends Claim Nellie Marena" - Unsigned - New York Sun
October 7, 1887
more coverage by the World's competitors of the mysterious insane girl.Reaction: "Who Is This Insane Girl?" - Unsigned - New York Sun | She Is Pretty, Well Dressed and Speaks Spanish; She Wandered into Matron Stenard's Home for Women and Asked for a Pistol to Protect Herself
September 25, 1887
The Sun's reporter, as well as reporters from other of the World's competitors, encounters the mysterious insane girl.Reaction: "Playing Madwoman"- Unsigned - New York Sun | Nellie Bly Too Sharp for Island Doctors; Nine Days in Calico; The Sun Finishes Up Its Story of the 'Pretty Crazy Girl'
October 14, 1887
The New York Sun attempts to steal a march on the New York World's scoop after Nellie Bly's ten-days in the women's ...December 31, 1969
"Among the Mad" - Nellie Bly - Godey's Lady's Book
January 1, 1889
Bly gives the back story of her madhouse expose.Follow-up: "Playing MadWoman" - Unsigned - New York Sun | Nellie Bly Too Sharp for Island Doctors; Nine Days Life in Calico; The Sun Finishes Up Its Story of the "Pretty Crazy Girl"; Questioned, Prescribed for, Locked in a Bare Cell Every Night; Uniformed in Furniture Goods; Bathed by Alien Hands; Washed Regularly Without Her Own Hands After Every Meal of Coarse Food; Silly and Uncouth Companions in Whose Childish Pleasure She Did Not Join; Her Deception Successful; Incidents of Her Adventure and Official Accounts of It
October 14, 1887III-Followup: "UnTruths in Every Line" - Nellie Bly - New York World | Nellie Bly Contradicts a Recent Article in The Sun; She Gives Many Additional Facts About Her Remarkable Sojourn on Blackwell's Island; More Praise for Dr. Ingram; He Is the Right Man in the Right Place; The Other Doctors Heartless and Careless
October 17, 1887IV-Reaction: Behind Asylum Bars: "Some of the Doctors Deny It" - Unsigned - New York World | Nellie Bly's Story Has ... Impression on Commissioners
October 17, 1887Behind Asylum Bars-Followup: "THE WORLD Their Savior" - Unsigned - New York World | How Nellie Bly's Work Will Help the City's Insane; Her Stories of the Treatment of Patients on Blackwell's Island Induce the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to Grant More Money to the Charity Commissioners - The Mayor Warns Dr. McDonald
October 28, 1887Reaction: "Nellie Brown—Memory Still Gone" - Unsigned - New York Sun | No One Claims the Pretty Crazy Girl at Bellevue
September 26, 1887
More follow-up from the World's competitors on the mysterious insane girl.Reaction: "Nelly Marina or Brown" - Unsigned - New York Sun | She Tells a Little About Herself, but is a Mystery Yet
October 5, 1887
More coverage by the World's competitors of the mysterious insane girl."In and About the City: A Mysterious Waif" - Unsigned - New York Times | Bellevue Shelters a Girl of Whom Nothing Is Known
September 26, 1887
The New York World's competitors cover the story of the unknown waif -- actually the World's reporter Nellie Bly -- ..."Still a Mystery: Nellie Mareno's Friends as Silent as She Was Herself" - Unsigned - New York Times
October 7, 1887
Nellie Bly continues to fool the New York World's competitors right up to the day before her story unfolded in the ...V-"Hardened Aides Soon Spawn Fear in Larned Newcomer" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the fifth of the six articles.
February 1, 1974Preview: "Trip Into Darkness" - Unsigned - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | A Week at Larned State Hospital; Inside Story of a Mental Ward Told
January 27, 1974
Preview of the forthcoming series by Betty Wells of her eight days as a patient at Larned State Hospital, where she ...III-"Patient Welcomed by Assault, Sexual Attack" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the third of six articles.
January 30, 1974
In her third article about the mental hospital, Betty Wells writes about being assaulted.VI-"Day at Larned Just One Big Trip" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichta Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the last of six articles.
February 2, 1974
Betty Wells writes about her experience posing as a mental patient at Larned State Hospital.IV-"Boredom and Drugs Form a Typical Day" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the fourth of six articles.
January 31, 1974
Betty Wells describes what a day in the Larned State Hospital is typically like.II-"New Patients Stripped of Belongings, Dignity" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the second of six articles.
January 29, 1974
Betty Wells describes being admitted into Larned State Hospital.I-"Living at Larned Is a Demoralizing Experience" - Betty Wells - Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon | Staff Writer Betty Wells was a voluntarily committed patient for eight days at Larned State Hospital. No one at the hospital knew she was there to find out what life in a mental institution is like. This is the first of six articles.
January 28, 1974
First part of Betty Wells' experience undercover at Larned State Hospital."In the Magdalen Home" - Nellie Bly - New York World | Nellie Bly's Visit to an Institution for Unfortunate Women; A Wicked Girl's Chances for Reformation — How Poor Creatures Abuse a Noble Charity-Matron Burr's Experiences — The Girl Who Befriended an Unlucky Cat — The Toboggan Slide of Sin
February 12, 1888"Despair for the Mentally Ill" - Lois Timnick - Los Angeles Times | Metro Hospital - Place of Little Hope
August 12, 1979
The newspaper’s front-page explainer reads: “Posing as a graduate psychology student, Times Human Behavior Writer ...Norah Vincent's "Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin"
2008"A Month Among the Mad" - By a Chaplain's Substitute - The Quiver
January 1, 1878
A man accepts a month's duty, from August 20 to September 20, 1878, as substitute chaplain at the Kent County Asylum."Visiting the Dispensaries" - Nellie Bly - New York World | Nellie Bly Narrowly Escapes Having Her Tonsils Amputated; Treated as a Charity Patient in the Throat, Skin and Ear Infirmaries; She Joins the Throngs of Poor Invalids and Finds Out How Free Medical Aid Is Dispensed; One Brusque Old Doctor Probes Her Throat and Nose and Wants to Perform an Operation; A Young Physician Tells Her Never to Wash Her Face With Soap; The Druggists' Big Profits; What She Saw and Heard
December 2, 1888
Nellie investigates the city's dispensaries for charity patients who are sick."A Mental Ward Exposed" - Charlie Lord - National Public Radio | Rather than fight in World War II, conscientious objector and Quaker Charlie Lord was sent by the government to work at a mental institution called Philadelphia State Hospital. He secretly took photographs to expose the horrors of the institution. These are his photos.
December 30, 2009