American Institutions for the Feeble-Minded, 1876-1916 A

AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED, 1876-1916 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY KATRINA NANCY JIRIK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SALLY GREGORY KOHLSTEDT JENNIFER GUNN MAY 2019 © Katrina Nancy Jirik Acknowledgements Completing a dissertation, while an individual endeavor, cannot be done without the support and assistance of a multitude of people and organizations. Traveling to both the East and West Coasts, as well as in the Midwest, to conduct research required significant funding. I’m thankful for funding from the following sources: the Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, two History of Science Technology and Medicine Departmental travel grants, the Council of Graduate Students at the University of Minnesota travel grant, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, and the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science Fellowship. Along with funding, my research could not have been done without the help of archivists and librarians at the following sites: the California State Archives, the California State Library, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Library Company in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, the New Jersey State Library in Trenton, the Louisa H. Bowen University Archives and Special Collections at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Illinois, the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, and the Illinois State Library in Springfield. My stays in Philadelphia could not have been done without the generosity of historian William Dunn and his wife, Mary Dunn, former President of Smith College, who allowed me to stay in their condo during my research trips. I’m extremely grateful to my professors and graduate student colleagues who supported me in my journey to my PhD. I especially want to thank my primary advisor, Sally Kohlstedt for the multitude of readings she did of my dissertation, suggesting revisions that made it a much better document, and for the help with the numerous forms and letters of recommendation. I’d like to thank some of my undergraduate professors i for having faith in me that I could make it through graduate school, John Beaty, Jay Hatch, and Phil Shively. I want to acknowledge my mother, Barbara Jirik, without whom, none of this could have been accomplished. She was my research assistant, chauffeur, sounding board, and faithful companion on this long journey. Finally, I’d like to acknowledge Kathy Kellum, who a long time ago made a difficult decision that profoundly changed my life for the better. ii Dedications To my grandparents, Joe and Nancy Jirik, who always believed in me and always loved me, no matter what. To Dave Wark, who taught me how to be my best self. To my mom, Barbara Jirik, who helps me have a wonderful life. iii Abstract Between 1876 and 1916, American institutions for the feeble-minded became an established part of the landscape and reflected important educational, social, medical, and scientific shifts during that period. This dissertation traces attitudes toward those deemed feeble-minded and the institutions that housed them by investigating the voices of people, organizations, and state governments that have not been well explored previously and identifying the particular influences that shaped them. The Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions of Idiotic and Feeble-minded Persons (AMO) formed in 1876 as the professional organization for institution superintendents and expanded its membership over the years to encompass other professionals with an interest in feeble-mindedness. It strove to become the repository of all things related to feeble-mindedness with its members seen as the recognized experts in the field. From small private establishments before the Civil War, these institutions expanded rapidly in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Not only did the number of institutions increase, but the number of residents in the institutions and thus the size of the institutions to house them also grew significantly. While the establishment of pre- Civil War institutions had relied on philanthropic efforts and the advocacy of superintendents, the post-Civil War institutions were usually state funded and relied on the advocacy and social capital of prominent societal leaders. Between 1890 and 1900, the well-established institutions consolidated both the authority of those providing care and the functions of the institutions; in the process they moved from small residential iv schools to large, congregate, and increasingly, custodial institutions. The beginning of the twentieth century, from 1900 to 1916, brought new issues to the forefront. Compulsory school attendance laws, new understandings of heredity, and eugenics all pushed administrators and sponsors to reconsider the previous conceptions of care for the feeble-minded. Throughout these decades, superintendents, parents, educators, legislators and even members of the general public became engaged in the definition, growth, and influence of these institutions. It was not a static process; all these entities worked in concert with, and, sometimes, in opposition to, with each other. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Dedications iii Abstract iv List of Abbreviations vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Formalizing Expertise at Institutions for the Feeble-minded 35 Chapter 2 Framing and Expanding Institutions across the Nation, 1876-1890 65 Chapter 3 Consolidation of Authority, 1890-1900 135 Chapter 4 Standardization of Practice and Reconsiderations 1900-1916 196 Conclusion 266 Bibliography 281 vi List of Abbreviations BL Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley CDNC California Digital Newspaper Collection, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ CPP College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CSA California State Archive, [Identification of item], Department of Mental Hygiene - Sonoma State Hospital Records, [ID number], California State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California. CSL California State Library, Sacramento, California JPA Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, available through Hathi Trust NJSA New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey NJSL New Jersey State Library, Trenton, New Jersey Proceedings Proceedings of the Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Persons, available through Hathi Trust vii Introduction American institutions for the feeble-minded,1 created throughout the United States in the last half of the nineteenth century, created a visible and often architecturally prominent site on the landscape and in the imagination of the larger public. This dissertation traces how attitudes toward those deemed feeble-minded and the institutions that housed them changed between 1876 and 1916, bringing in voices of people and organizations that have not been well explored previously. The challenges to existing social and economic structures in American society, massive immigration, industrialization, and urbanization, seemed to many middle-class and even working-class white citizens to raise concerns that the quintessential American way of life of a still largely rural nation was threatened. The emerging professionalization of physicians, social workers, psychologists, and teachers also represented a change in the social structures of the time. In what Robert Wiebe terms a “search for order,”2 practical reformers began to establish institutions to manage various segments of the population that seemed either particularly or persistently needy or that seemed to pose a threat to the social order. 1 Our modern day understanding of the word “feeble-minded” is to equate it to mental retardation or cognitive impairment. This was not, however, the definition of the term at the turn of the twentieth century. During this time period, it was synonymous with the concept of “socially inadequate.” This concept was strongly based on middle-class mores. It was nebulous enough to have a wide-reaching application to populations who were often poor or were composed of immigrants. While it included people with cognitive impairments, it also included a wide variety of people who today would not be considered cognitively impaired. The term “feeble-minded,” while considered offensive by today’s standards, is used in the rest of this dissertation in order to capture the sense in which it was used in the late nineteenth century. 2 Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order: 1877-1920 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967). 1 Industrialization and urbanization were intricately intertwined with changes to care for those labeled feeble-minded. Prior to the 1870s children and adults considered feeble-minded could often be integrated to a certain extent into the farm economies, as family members were available to offer supervision. However, the movement of people into the cities and twelve-hour work days meant that the constructive assistance available in a rural setting was not available for a feeble-minded person in an urban tenement.3 As the vocational training done in institutions focused on skills appropriate for a rural household, urban families, often poor, had limited ability and few resources to tend their feeble-minded relatives.4 This led to an increased need for custodial care as many of the feeble-minded residents of the institutions now had no home to which they could return

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