Canton Asylum

Hospital Staff, Tulalip Indian School, 1912, courtesy Library of Congress

Dr. Hummer found it difficult to keep good help at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. Though part of the problem resulted from Hummer’s bad temper and difficult personality, another part lay in the nature of the work. Attendants in particular had a hard time. They were supposed to be on duty from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., though on alternating nights they were allowed to leave at 6:00 p.m. However, they couldn’t leave the premises without Hummer’s permission.

Attendants had a detailed list of 36 specific duties, though they were supposed to do just about anything required of them. A new patient always presented additional work. Attendants were to  conduct new patients to their wards and search them for valuables and weapons, make a note of all their clothing, mark the pieces, and then take on the care of the patients’ clothing. They were also to bathe the new patient upon admittance and examine him or her for vermin, marks, or bruises.

The next post will discuss attendants’ daily duties.

Staff of Arizona State Asylum, 1914

Stewards and Nurses, Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital, Detroit circa 1890-1901

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McLean Asylum for the Insane

Work was considered essential for patients’ well-being and cure in insane asylums. For patients to get well, they needed peace, an unvarying routine, and light tasks that would occupy their minds. Though much of patients’ work helped the institution itself by defraying labor expenses, most superintendents also believed in its therapeutic value.

Often, patients could work on projects they actually enjoyed, and sometimes earn money from them. Since a goal of treatment was to enable an individual to rejoin society, working for money was not discouraged. At the McLean Asylum, women did plain sewing, but also fancy work that they sold. At the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, female patients did beadwork for money. A man named M. B. Viken wrote to Dr. Hummer in 1927 to ask if he could get a beaded belt that he had bought at the asylum years earlier, repaired. By that time, however, Hummer had no occupational therapy at the asylum other than chores. He sent regrets that he could not accommodate the request.

Psychiatric Patients Making Toys, circa WWI

Shoshone Women Doing Beadwork, courtesy Princeton University Digital Library

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Canton Asylum

Life in most insane asylums was highly regimented, and the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was no exception.

During the day, patients had a number of chores: They performed labor in the gardens, cleaned their rooms, helped in the kitchen or dining room, or assisted in the general maintenance of the asylum. For leisure, those who were able walked outside, played ball, fished, or even went into town if an attendant could go with them. Since attendants were also very busy, outdoor activities and town visits were not as prevalent  as reports made it sound–many patients spent most of their time indoors, doing nothing.

The asylum eventually got a moving picture machine that played (preferably) 7-reel comedies in the dining room once a week. Dr. Hummer also purchased playground equipment, such as swings and a see-saw, which were very popular; the swing set is visible in most pictures of Canton Asylum. On Sundays, those who desired sang hymns and recited the Lord’s Prayer–again, in the dining room–if there were no visiting clergy to give a more formal service.

Canton Main Street

Staff at Athens Lunatic Asylum

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