Tag Archives: Great War

Not Just Patients Suffered

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For most of his tenure, Dr. Harry Hummer ran the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians as the only medical person on staff. He resisted trained nurses (probably because they could challenge his own expertise) and immediately undermined and harassed the nurses forced on him by the Indian Service. Grace Fillius reported to the asylum in September, 1928, and her strong personality immediately clashed with Hummer’s.

Fillius had worked as a nurse with the Army during the Great War, and suffered a breakdown in 1918 which apparently required a short stay at St. Elizabeths. When Hummer began his work against her, he brought up this breakdown as a weakness inherent in her character. Though this “cause for concern” was probably produced out of spite, it also fit in with Hummer’s philosophy that a person could never truly be cured of mental illness (see last post).

St. Elizabeths, East and North Facade, courtesy Library of Congress

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Other Difficult Times

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The Depression brought hard times to the country, South Dakota, and the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. The 1930s was not the only difficult period it had faced, though–the Great War (WWI) had also strained the asylum’s capabilities.

Poster Urging Americans to Use Various Grains, courtesy Library of Congress

All Americans were urged to conserve food and materials, and many stirring posters reminded citizens of how vital their cooperation was to the war effort. Along with the rest of the country, the asylum supported American troops by cutting back on food so that the excess could be sent to soldiers overseas; meatless Mondays were a staple throughout the country. Superintendent Dr. Harry Hummer also initiated other measures to counter “the food situation” brought about by the war. In a letter dated July 4, 1918, Hummer reported to the commissioner of Indian Affairs that he had had to institute “one beefless, one porkless, and one meatless days” each week, along with six extra meatless meals each week. No one liked the new menu, and Hummer reported “a considerable degree of grumbling and discontent among the less patriotic of our employees.”

Mina C. Winkle, Head of Lecture Bureau of Food Administration, 1917, courtesy National Archives

Flour Being Unloaded and Carried to Red Cross Warehouse, courtesy Library of Congress

 

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