| MSAOnline exhibition and research notes by MSA curator Robert W. Schoeberlein, Ph.D. relating to The Use and Implications of PHOTOGRAPHS FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE REFORM: The Maryland State Lunacy Commission State Care Campaign, 1908-1910. Images helped to prompt the movement of the mentally ill out of county almshouses and into state hospitals.
Series 2, includes photographs from the October 6, 1908 Lunacy Commission Report found in Government Publications: LUNACY COMMISSION (Secretary's Report Photographs) [For report, see 810916.] 1908/10/6 Accession No.: MdHR 810916-1, Location: 2/3/11/83, E10277. The research for this exhibition, drawn from the holdings of the Maryland State Archives (mostly S 195 and Govpubs), focuses on the use of photographs in the campaign for mental health care reform in Maryland during the early twentieth century, an effort spearheaded by the Maryland State Lunacy Commission. Photographs played an important role in bringing bad conditions to light and in persuading politicians and the general public that the state should take responsibility for the care of its indigent insane. The images constitute a rare example of Progressive Era reform photography still existant in Maryland. Series 2, has been added to document the photographs in the October 6, 1908 state government report: LUNACY COMMISSION (Secretary's Report Photographs). For 1908/10/6 report, see 810916 in MSA's Government Publications catalog. These photographs were removed from the report for scanning.
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