Approximately 114 glass lantern slides compiled by the Department of Mental Hygiene of Maryland (and its predecessor organization, the State Lunacy Commission) focusing upon the issues of mental health care and institutions during the first two decades of the twentieth century. It appears the slides concern three major issues: 1] the movement of the mentally ill from almshouses into state hospitals (1908-1910); 2] the planning and construction of state hospitals (1910-1920); 3] the future care of the mentally retarded in Maryland (c. 1915).
The earliest series illustrates a sampling of county almshouses (1908-1910) and may have been used during the State Care campaign of 1908-1910 (most are duplicates of photographs found in MSA S 195). Notable and rare, however, are the views of the interior of Bay View Asylum, Baltimore City's almshouse. One slide features women, both whites and African-Americans, sitting on the sun porch of what appears to be the tuberculosis ward.
A number of slides concern the Central State Hospital (1869) in Petersburg, Virginia, the first such state institution to specifically house African-American patients in America. Interior and exterior views (c. 1910) are featured. These were probably used in the planning for the Hospital of the Negro Insane, later known as Crownsville State Hospital
Another series surrounds the Letchworth Village in New York State (c. 1912). Letchworth, with its cottage residences, represented a new way of care for, as they were termed, the "mentally deficient" or "feeble-minded" (mentally retarded, developmentally disabled). Several portraits of Letchworth[?] residents are also included (the identification of the individual is by first name and last initial).
Lastly, numerous slides portray occupational therapy classes and activities at Maryland state hospitals, with views of Spring Grove and Springfield predominating. Architectural renderings and construction progress photographs of hospital buildings at Springfield, Crownsville and the Eastern Shore hospital complete this series.
