“The
Complex Legacy of Dorothea Dix
:
The Troubled and Troubling Heroine
of Social Reform”
Caroline H. Cox, Department
of History
University of the Pacific 
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to this lecture
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Web
Links
- Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse:
The Writings and Reform Work
of Dorothea Dix in Illinois
by Dorothea Lynde Dix,
David L. Lightner.
- On Behalf of the Insane
Poor by Dorothea Lynde
Dix, University Press
of the Pacific, 2001. by Dorothea
Lynde Dix
- Voice for the Mad: The
Life of Dorothea Dix by
David L. Gollaher
Makes use of Dorothea Dix's
letters from the Harvard Library
and thus supercedes all the
previous scholarship. This excellent
biography is good for a critical
look at Dorothea Dix, and her
contribution to the mental health
movement. The author reminds
us that much of what we know
about Dix and her public image
was carefully cultivated by
her.
- The Lady and the President:
The Letters of Dorothea Dix
and Millard Fillmore by
Charles M. Snyder, ed. Lexington:
University Press of Kentucky,
1975. Contains a brief biography
of both as well as their letters
to each other, useful for getting
a look at Dorothea Dix's connections
and influences in the White
House, as well as for primary
documents to use.
- Dorothea Dix: New England
Reformer by Thomas J. Brown
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/BRODOR.html
- Among many article-length
pieces on Dix are Wayne Viney
and K. Bartsch, "Dorothea
Lynde Dix: Positive or Negative
Influence on the Development
of Treatment for the Mentally
Ill," The Social Science
Journal, (1984) This article
discusses the difficulty many
modern scholars have with Dix.
Dix's scheme to segregate the
mentally ill into facilities
in which they might be treated
and cured was well-intentioned.
However, over time, these became
custodial facilities with inhuman
and filthy conditions. These
scholars chide others for blaming
Dix for something she could
not have forseen.
- NMHA and the History of the
Mental Health Movement: brief
history of the mental health
(mental hygiene) movement
http://www.nmha.org/about/history.cfm
- The History of Mental Illness
This website at Ohio University
contains a detailed summary
of the history of our understanding
of mental illness and the institutional
systems created to care for
sufferers. The university has
a deep interest in this history
because the town is the home
to the Ridges, one of the largest
of the great 19th century asylums
and the building's structure,
literally, dominates the landscape.
It is now the Athens Mental
Health Center.
http://www.ohiou.edu/~ridges/history.html
- Angelina E. Grimké's
eloquent statement about policial
activism "But
perhaps you will be ready to
query, why appeal to women on
this subject? We do not make
the laws which perpetuate slavery.
No legislative power is vested
in us; we can do nothing to
overthrow the system, even if
we wished to do so. To this
I reply, I know you do not make
the laws, but I also know that
you are the wives and mothers,
the sisters and daughters of
those who do; and if you really
suppose you can do nothing to
overthrow slavery, you are greatly
mistaken. You can do much in
every way: four things I will
name. 1st. You can read on this
subject. 2d. You can pray over
this subject. 3d. You can speak
on this subject. 4th. You can
act on this subject. I have
not placed reading before praying
because I regard it more important,
but because, in order to pray
aright, we must understand what
we are praying for; it is only
then we can "pray with
the understanding and the spirit
also." (excerpt from
Appeal To The Christian Women
of the South by Angelina
E. Grimké)
http://history.furman.edu/~benson/docs/grimke2.htm
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