Crownsville Hospital: Home

Unidentified graves are marked with simple numbered stones.  The patient records, which might have facilitated matching names to numbers were lost many years ago.  

Find out more about the Paient Cemetery by visiting the Firends of the Crownsville Hospital Paitent Cemetery group's Digital Collection

Judi B. Evans, MLIS, MA, researched and designed this guide in support of a semester-long special project assignment for one of the 2014 Scholars Studio Freshman cohorts at Bowie State University. Because of Crownsville’s historical significance, we continue to offer this guide to the Bowie community, citizens of Maryland, and interested members of the public at large.

Construction for the Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane began in the early 1900s on former plantation land. In the Spring of 1911, 12 patients arrived at Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland. In July 2004, the Crownsville Hospital Center closed. In its 93 year history, those who were patients at Crownsville experienced mental health care that was consistent with African American life in the 20th century for the most vulnerable among us—there were rays of light amidst conditions of misery and terrible abuse. There are over 1600 graves at the Crownsville cemetery, and the graves to do not account for all of those who died at Crownsville. Today, the State of Maryland is considering what should be done with the Crownsville Hospital campus.

BSU Discovery

Search our Catalog for more about Crownsville State Hospital by using BSU Discovery. Type in "Crownsville State Hospital" in the search bar and filter your search by using filters on the left hand side to refine your search.

ProQuest

Find sources by searching multiple database at once using ProQuest. Type in your topic into the search bar, and refine your search by using the filters on the left hand. Contents include Current and Historical Newspapers, Dissertations & Theses, Trade and Scholarly Journals, and more. 

A-Z Databases

Find the best library databases for your research using our list of A to Z Databases. 

Plagiarism is a combination of cheating and theft.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED), the definition of plagiarism is:

 “The action or practice of
taking someone else's work,
idea, etc., and passing it off
as one's own; literary theft.”
(September 2012).

Often, especially for students inexperienced in writing scholarly papers, plagiarism is unintentional. However, whether intentional or unintentional, the consequences can be severe. So, be aware and be informed!  

“plagiarism, n.” (September 2012). In Oxford English dictionary online.Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/

You are plagiarizing ...

1. When you copy text from another source and pass it off as yours.
2. When you pay for, or borrow, a paper that someone else wrote and you put your name on it. (And, no, editing it or changing a few words or sentences does not make it yours).
3. When you "patchwrite" - that is, when you copy text from more than one source and put the parts together so that it looks new.
4. When you re-use your own paper from a previous course without discussing it with your professor in advance.

The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada, Volume 2 is available as a free ebook through Google Books. It contains a brief overview of and some background information on Crownsville State Hospital.