"The Lunacy Commission was created to supervise "all institutions, public, corporate or private, in which insane persons are detained" (Chapter 487, Acts of 1886). Appointed by the governor, the commission consisted of the Attorney General and four others, two of whom were required to be physicians. The commission's primary concern was the proper care of the insane. Twice a year, the secretary (who was a physician) or a designated commissioner visited public, corporate, and private institutions, including county almshouses where the insane were housed. Annually, the commission reported to the governor on the conditions of these institutions."
From "Maryland State Archives Guide to Government Records."
Listed below are links to annual/biennial reports of the Lunacy Commission available through the Maryland State Archives.
Also useful, Social Work and After Care of the Mentally Ill in Maryland: The Early Years, by Betsey S. Vourlekis details the work of the Commission in the years leading up to the establishment of Crownsville and the early decades of the hospitals operation.
Worcester County Almshouse, 1908 (African-American building)
The Use and Implications of
PHOTOGRAPHS FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE REFORM:
1908-1910
Compiled for a 2004 exhibit by the Maryland State Archives, this article provides background information on the state of psychiatric treatment and institutions in Maryland at the end of the 19th century and the conditions which initially led to the founding of Crownsville State Hospital. An image gallery is also included.
As early as 1899 the reports of the Lunacy Commission included specialized proposals for addressing the issue of mentally ill African Americans.
"The negro insane are increasing daily and the State has done nothing so far in their behalf... The condition of the insane at Montevue Hospital at Frederick is shameful, and should at once be remedied. The beasts of the fields are better cared for than the poor negroes at Montevue."
"The building which is used for the negro insane was even more overcrowded at the last visit of the Secretary than it has been at previous inspections, and under these conditions it is impossible to keep the rooms as clean as they should be. The condition of affairs is the more reprehensible since a large number of the negro patients are received from other counties for compensation... The number of attendants is inadequate, and there can be no doubt of the fact that the general care and treatment is distinctly below that afforded at the State hospitals."
"No improvements can be noted in this almshouse (Caroline County). The building occupied by the white patients is clean and comfortable. The cabins for the negroes, to which attention has frequently been called, are a disgrace to the county."
Fifteenth Report of the Lunacy Commission, available through the Maryland State Archives.
"The negro patients are generally provided for in dilapidated cabin, more or less unclean, and always overcrowded."
"The second case was also seen in one of the counties, a negro man who was chained to a tree in summer, and confined in a miserable improvised cell in winter. This man is now at one of the State hospitals, a well behaved patient and a good worker."
"The insane negro fares rather badly in this state, since Springfield receives none and Spring Grove but a limited number. There are at Frederick, in the Montevue Hospital, about sixty negroes, and, as will be seen from the description of this asylum, it is not without serious drawbacks. In the counties the negroes are largely kept in almshouses, and it goes without saying that they do not receive the attention that they should have."
Eighteenth Report of the Lunacy Commission, available through the Maryland State Archives.
"In Maryland there are over 400 insane negroes and, with the exception of Bay View Asylum, which is for city patients only, no provision is made for them... With these facts in view, it is proposed to ask the present Legislature for an appropriation with which to build and equip a hospital for the negro insane. Not only is this step urged on the ground of humanity - to relieve the suffering of these unfortunates now crowded into almshouses, but in the present stage in the care of the insane in this State it has become absolutely necessary."
Twentieth Report of the Lunacy Commission, available through the Maryland State Archives.
After a reorganization of the government in 1922, the Lunacy Commission was replaced by the Board of Mental Hygiene, which was in turn replaced by the Department of Mental Hygiene in 1949.
"The selection of a site for the new hospital was the first thing to be considered by the Board of Managers. A great many desirable farms were offered and after spending about seven months in visiting the various sites and getting a special report by the State Forester and Professors Taliaferro and Close of the Maryland Agricultural College on several desirable locations, the board finally decided on the Boswell-Garret farm, located at Crownsville, Anne Arundel County, consisting of 566 acres of tillable and forest land. This farm contains 2 willow holt of over 20 acres and about 80 additional acres of rich medow land specially adapted to the growing of osier willows. The accompanying pictures show the character of the timber on the farm and a general view of the cleared land."
Above image and excerpt taken from the Twenty-Fifth Report of the Lunacy Commission.
The earliest patients were transferred from the Maryland Hospital for the insane and housed in a pre-existing farm building, from which they were employed in the early stages of construction.
"A frame building on the farm has been converted into a temporary construction camp and about 25 patients transferred from the Maryland Hospital for the Insane to this place, the patients to be employed in cutting the willows, building a spur from the electric road to the hospital site, clearing and tilling the land, and later the patients will assist in errecting the permanent building."
Above image and excerpt taken from the Twenty-Fifth Report of the Lunacy Commission.
"The changing of the name of the hospital from the Maryland Hospital for the Negro Insane to the Crownsville State Hospital by the last General Assembly conforms with modern methods adopted by other states and will be of great assistance in locating the hospital to those bringing patients for treatment."
Excerpt taken from the Twenty-Seventh Report of the Lunacy Commission.
Patient labor was regularly used in the clearing of the land and early construction as a form of therapy and as a money saving measure.
"Every possible means, and many times impossible on first consideration, have been taken advantage of to employ all patients whose physical standard was sufficiently high to justify such, whether the results be large or small. Even two patients having one arm have rendered excellent service as water boys, and since being occupied have been less irritable and more contented. The bricklayers have used patients as hodcarriers. They have assisted the plumbers by helping to cut pipe, and frequently have assisted in packing joints. The electrician has several helpers. All the building material has been unloaded: the concrete has been mixed and wheeled for the foundations, floors and roofs of buildings. This necessitated pushing barrows of concrete up a tramway three and a half stories in height.
A special feature of the work accomplished by patient labor was the removal of 10,000 cubic yards of earth in about 10 weeks. This was the necessary excavating required to reach a certain level before the foundations of either the administration or central kitchen building were commenced, in addition to the ground dug for these foundations. The construction of three buildings at the same time necessitated the unloading of great quantities of material, all of which has been handled by patients."
Excerpt and image taken from the Twenty-Seventh Report of the Lunacy Commission.
"There were more acres under cultivation at the State hospitals this year than ever before, and in addition to the patients' planting and harvesting all of the crops on the State farms, they were taken in motor trucks to adjoining farms within a radius of ten miles and gathered the crops for the farmers who were without help. Had Dr. Winterode, the Superintendent for the Crownsville State Hospital, not met this urgent necessity, the farmers in Anne Arundel County adjacent to the hospital would have suffered a great loss and quantities of food supplies, such as corn, potatoes, ect., would have rotted in the fields. Dr. J.C. Clarke, of the Springfield State Hospital, Dr. J. Percy Wade, of the Spring Grove State Hospital, and Dr. F.W. Keating, of the Rosewood State Training School, likewise came to the assistance of the neighboring farmers and had their patients help gather the crops. This is only a demonstration of how practical it is to have a group of patients under the supervision of a careful attendant go to neighboring farms and assist in gathering the crops and thus conserve the food supply of the country and do their part to help win the war."
Excerpt taken from the Twenty-Eighth Report of the Lunacy Commission.
"Through the efforts of Ms. Amy C. Hearn, Superintendant of Nurses, a class for this group has been organized with most encouraging results. A daily period of an hour and a half is devoted to the teaching of the three R's, tracing and coloring of pictures with crayons, and singing of nursery rhymes. Several of the class have shown considerable aptitude for free-hand drawing, and their copybooks are models of neatness. The enjoyment and resulting beneficial moral influence have amply repaid the venture, to say nothing of the pupils' apparent pride in knowing they are given opportunities to learn. Qualificaton for class membership is a good-behavior record."
Excerpt taken from the 1919 Biennial Report of the Lunacy Commission.
"The industrial classes attended by the patients were still a vital asset to the hospital in 1927. Patients had learned how to make concrete blocks and had perfected the process so that the hospital utilized this talent in the construction of the William L. Marbury Building. Designed by hospital mechanics, the entire building was constructed from Crownsville's talented resources. The Marbury Building reflects the self-sufficiency of the hospital from the patient's participation to the efficient use of hospital funds."
Excerpt taken from the Crownsville Hospital Historical Trust Review Form, available through the Maryland Historical Trust Inventory of Historic Properties.
Image taken from the Marbury Building Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form available through the Maryland State Archives.
"Crownsville State Hospital—With funds made available by the last Legis-
lature, a new hospital unit is being constructed which will include a separate
building for the treatment of tuberculous patients. This institution, of course,
serves the Negro insane and since a special tubercular unit will be provided
with the funds now available, it will be noted that provision has been made for
the segregation of tubercular mental cases among both the white and colored
races, the other special facility, as above noted, being at the Springfield State
Hospital. The Crownsville State Hospital, with the new construction, will also
be able to classify the epileptic group and to provide separation for terminal
cases. The usual facilities needed in a new institution of this kind will also be
provided, including equipment for hydro-therapy treatment."
Excerpt taken from the State Papers and Addresses of Governor Herbert L. O'Conor available through the Maryland State Archives.
Photo taken from the Maryland Historic Trust State Historic Sites Inventory for the Winterode Building. Available through the Maryland State Archives.
Related materials on course reserve: Educating Disturbed Children: Winterode School, Crownsville State Hospital
Related materials on course reserve: "Maryland's Shame": Photojournalism and Mental Health Reform, 1935 - 1949
"The intersection of a progressive superintendent, Dr. Morgenstern and a focused NAACP chapter resulted in this hiring of an African American psychologist, Vernon Sparks in 1948. Mary Brown, a member of the Crownsville Auxiliary since 1954, was active in the local NAACP chapter and described the concern of many African Americans regarding the all white staff. Ms. Brown stated that members of the African American community were aware that integration of the facility would happen at some point and they were concerned about how African American patients would be treated once white patients entered the facility. They strongly believed that African American staff was necessary for the adequate care of Crownsville patients."
From https://www.patdeegan.com/sites/default/files/files/separate_and_unequal.pdf
Photo taken from The Baltimore Afro-American, November 12, 1949.
Upon inspection in 1954, the Crownsville State Hospital failed to earn accreditation from the American Psychiatric Association. Overcrowding and inadequate staff were listed among other problem areas.
Photo taken from The Baltimore Afro-American, June 18, 1960
Crownsville State Hospital, outside Annapolis,
established an outpatient clinic in Baltimore in 1961 in the hope of preventing
relapse in some of its discharged patients.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/200/191192.pdf
"In September 1961, three civil rights actiists, Wallace Nelson, Juanita Nelson and Rose Robinson, were arrested on trespassing charges at a Route 40 Restaurant near Elkton, Maryland when they attempted to secure a meal. The trio refused legal council and initiated a hunger strike while being held at the Cecil County jail. On the twelfth day of the hunger strike, the judge ordered them transferred to Crownsville State Hospital for evaluation. Sheriff Edgar U. Startt offered his clinical assessment when asked if their behaviorsuggested any "mental aberration." He responded, "Anybody that will not eat and won't stand up in court and plead acts like a mental case to me -and also to the State's Attorney."
Excerpt take from "Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racially Segregated Psychiatric Hospitals" by Vanessa Jackson
Photo taken from The Afro American, September 30, 1961
Related materials on course reserve: Effects of Desegregation of a State Hospital System on Rates of Treated Mental Illnesses
“We have all been convinced that the place to start the search for answers to the broadening social issues of modern times is the family unit, and in other sustained interpersonal relationships necessary for survival. My personal task has been to find a way to give the uppermost priority to the kind of grass root level education of people about people.”
Quote taken from Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racially Segregated Psychiatric Hospitals by Vanessa Jackson
Knight, Molly. "Crownsville Hospital Center is Set to Shut Down this Week ; State Says Closure is Step to Better Psychiatric Care." The Sun: 0. Jun 27 2004. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014
"Despite strong criticism of the shutdown from some state lawmakers, doctors and relatives of Crownsville patients -- many of whom worried that the process would be fraught with complications -- the closure has so far been problem-free, according to state Health Secretary Nelson J. Sabatini.
Founded in 1910 as the Hospital for the Negro Insane, Crownsville's population grew steadily until its peak of 2,719 patients in 1955, seven years after its integration. Because of the rich history of the campus, state historians are working to ensure that plans for Crownsville include preservation.
According to the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, all but 19 Crownsville employees had been placed in new jobs as of Friday. When asked about the 19 remaining employees, Sabatini said: "Obviously, we are doing everything possible to help find jobs for all of them."
In August of 2013 a formal request was submitted to the Office of the Governor by representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP, the Caucus of African-American Leaders, and the Maryland Disability Law Center to initiate an investigation into the treatment of African-American patients at Crownsville.
"Specifically we seek an investigation into conditions experienced by African American's at Crownsville and the troubling evidence of experimentation upon human subjects of all races in Maryland's psychiatric hospitals during the 20th century. In addition, we request that the state attempt to identify the patients who died at the hospital and whose remains were sent to medical schools, as well as the 1,800 patients buried on the site of the Crownsville property, and to provide an appropriate memorial for these individuals."