Dr. John Galt
When insane asylums were first built, there were no schools that superintendents could attend, or courses they could take, to learn how to run one. The thirteen superintendents who formed the original Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane in 1844, had to forge a new profession and field of study, fight for acceptance and prestige, and defend their ground-breaking treatments to the public. They were generally up for the task.
Five of the original superintendents were from Massachusetts, two from Pennsylvania, two from Connecticut, two from New Hampshire, and two from Virginia. The oldest member, Dr. Samuel White, was 53; the youngest, Dr. John Galt, was 22. Most of the other superintendents were in their thirties. These men shared both a geographical background and a pioneering interest in the study of mental disease. Though this original band certainly butted heads occasionally, they typically bonded as a body against any attack on their profession or competency. Superintendents from New England often filled the top positions in new asylums that opened in other states, ensuring at least a certain degree of orthodoxy in treating the insane.
Danvers Lunatic Asylum, Massachusetts, circa 1893
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