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ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8115130 L ev stik, F rank R ic h a r d A HISTORY OF THE EDUCATION AND TREATMENT OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED IN OHIO, 1787-1920 The Ohio State University Ph .D. 1981 University Microfilms I ntern St io n a! 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 A HISTORY OF THE EDUCATION AND TREATMENT OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED IN OHIO, 1787-1920 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Frank R. Levstik, B.A., M.A. •k * * * * The Ohio State University 1981 Reading Committee : Approved By Prof. Robert H. Eremner Prof. Paul C. Bowers Z X ^ V" ///? Prof. Gary W. Reichard /\ Adviser Department of History ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Robert H. Bremner for his many hours of assistance and patience in this project as well as other members of my reading committee. The Archives of American Psychology at the University of Akron deserve mention for awarding the author a research scholarship. Particular thanks go to Mrs. Charles Ott who typed the dissertation in draft and final forms. 11 VITA March 3 ,1943 ............ Born - Chicago, Illinois 1966 ................... B.A., Pikeville College, Pikeville, Kentucky 1966-1968 ............... Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Virginia Poly­ technic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 1968..................... M.A., Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia 1969-1974 ............... Archives Specialist, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio 1976 .................... State Archivist, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS Co-author, Union Bibliography of Ohio Printed State Documents, 1803-1970 (Columbus, 1974). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: American Social History Modern American Political History. Professor K. Austin Kerr Nineteenth Century American Social and Econ­ omic History. Professor Merton L. Dillon Chinese Intellectual History. Professor Hao Chang iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................. Ü VITA .................................................. iii LIST OF T A B L E S ..................................... V INTRODUCTION ....................................... 1 Chapter I. The Feeble-Minded in a Rural Society, 1787-1839 .......................... 3 II. The Years of Hope, 1840-1868 ........ 15 III. Custodial Care Emerges, 1869-1879 .......... 57 IV. Treatment in a Custodial Setting, 1880-1897 ................................... 90 V. Segregation, Sterilization and Education, 1898-1920 ........................ 125 BIBLIOGRAPHY 167 IV LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Inmate Population of the Ohio Institu­ tion for Feeble-Minded Youth ................ 165 2. Numbers of Handicapped in Ohio by Decade... 166 V INTRODUCTION A history of the education and treatment of the men­ tally retarded in Ohio provides a means for examining state response to a special group of handicapped citizens. An ignored chapter in the history of social welfare in Ohio, in particular, and the United States, in general, a study of this particular group is pertinent given their changing role in American society. There are no pro­ fessional histories of institutions for the mentally retarded nor individual studies of the state response to this segment of society. Social historians instead focused on studies of the mentally ill in America as Gerald Grob's Mental Institutions in America : Social Policy to 1875 and Norman Dain's Concepts of Insanity in the United States, 1789-1865. These same authors also completed studies of individual state mental hos­ pitals. First, Gerald Grob, The State and the Mentally 111, a history of Worcester State Hospital in Massachu­ setts and secondly, Dain's Disordered Minds; The First Century of Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia 1766-1866. For the mentally retarded, there are useful second­ ary accounts as Martin W. Barr Mental Defectives; Their History, Treatment and Training and Leo Kanner, A History of the Care and Study of the Mentally Retarded. The single professional history is Peter L. Tyor's doctoral dissertation written in 1972 at Northwestern University titled Segregation or Surgery; The Mentally Retarded in America, 1850-1920. Research into this neglected facet of American social history has been encouraged by the availability of primary source material to the author, the participation of relatives in the education of the mentally retarded, and family involvement with the education of the excep­ tional child. CHAPTER I THE FEEBLE-MINDED IN A RURAL SOCIETY 1787-1639 The mentally retarded, scattered among a total popu­ lation of 3,000 souls in 1790 in the Northwest Territory, presented no particular problem for a frontier society. Population centers tended to be isolated and largely rural and agricultural. Individuals affected by mental retardation were regularly cared for by the family and by the community on an emergency basis. The Northwest Territory's first poor law, passed in November 1790, made no specific provision for the maintenance of the mentally retarded, but took cognizance of public responsibility for the relief of any person found to be "wretched and a proper object of public charity."^ Under this broad definition, such indigent retarded as resided in the Northwest Territory may have been eligible for some form of public assistance. During the territorial period, the only legislation which was addressed to those suffering from mental illness focused on the appointment of guardians. Beginning in 1795, the County Probate Judge could call an inquest, wherein six freeholders of the same township would meet and determine whether an "idiot, non compos, lunatic or insane person" was incapable of caring for him or herself. If an individual was so judged, the Probate Judge appointed guardians to take care of the person and 2 his estate. At approximately the same time, a continent away, in France, Jean Marc Gaspard Itard became involved in the education and training of "Victor, The Wild Boy of Aveyron." In 1799, a youth of eleven or twelve years of age had been discovered in the woods of Aveyron, a remote rural area in France. Totally unsocialized and displaying the eating, drinking and elimination habits of an animal, the youth was brought to Itard, a phy­ sician at the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. For five years, Itard worked with "Victor" attempting to bring him from savagery to civilization. While not successful in achieving his goal, Itard’s work resulted in the boy's gaining an ability to identify letters of the alphabet, recognize objects, comprehend words, apply names to objects and demonstrate the possibility of modifying the actions of a mentally retarded indiv­ idual. ^ Two years after Ohio was admitted as a state, the statutes regarding the appointment of guardians of the mentally ill underwent modification. The Court of 5 Common Pleas was empowered to make an inquest on the sub­ ject and the number of freeholders called to make such a determination increased from six to twelve. Court ap­ pointed guardians still retained responsibility for the 4 care of the person and his estate. For the next decade Ohio statute remained unchanged in this area. Passage of "An act to provide for the safekeeping of lunatics, and for other purposes" on February 13, 1815, placed new responsibilities upon the overseers of the poor for the care of the mentally ill. The Justice of the Peace of a particular township could summon a jury of seven men to certify whether a person was "idiot, non compos, lunatic or insane." When a person was adjudged to be suffering