For a long time, Frances Nadeau was something of a mystery to the GMM Team. Thanks to her admission records, we knew that she was Irish-born from Co. Armagh, a Catholic, and a mother with a history of post-partum psychosis. She was a patient during Dr. Joseph Workman’s time in charge of the PLA, but … Continue reading Frances Mullen Nadeau
Asylums
John Murphy
On 1 June 1869, John Murphy was admitted to the Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Kingston, Ontario, as Patient #468. The massive limestone complex on the shore of Lake Ontario had been under construction since the autumn of 1859, built by gangs of convicts from nearby Kingston Penitentiary, and was completed a year … Continue reading John Murphy
Den(n)is McNamara
"In the summer of 1844, Dennis had become increasingly 'restless at night'."
There’s Something About Mary
It was supposed to be just another day at the library.
Letitia Stephens
AO, RG 10 20-B-4, 1, Provincial Lunatic Asylum Register, "Letitia Stephens." We’re not exactly sure when Letitia Stephens arrived in the Canadas, but she certainly was part of the pre-Famine wave of Irish immigrants, likely crossing the Atlantic in either the 1820s or the 1830s. Her first committal papers at the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in … Continue reading Letitia Stephens
When Work Feeds Your Addiction: Researching with Ancestry.com
"Many academics recognize that working with Ancestry.com and genealogical data can become quite addictive. That’s me: I am one of those historians."
Not Feeling ‘Excel’lent
"My confession: I don’t know how to use Excel."
The Brothers Douglas
"Sometimes, as a way to re-envision the lived reality of the people we write about, I play a little game..."
Collecting and Organizing Data: The GMM Project’s Guiding Principles
Early on in the project, we realized we needed specific guidelines for the collection of data from very different archival sources.
Game, Dataset, Match!
"So, what are we going to do with all those entries? How are we going to analyse them?"
The Season of the Grant
"There is an art to grant writing... It takes a different set of skills."
Reducing Costs or Occupational Therapy?
"Some patients who exhibited very bad behaviour or who were 'excessively filthy in their habits' were sent to 'the Basement'."
“You-Know-Who”
"I don’t think anyone in our project deserves to be made into a Voldemort."
Briefly, on Dual Pandemics and Archives of Feelings
"I see the materials with which the team has engaged...as a repository of feelings and emotions."
Disease-Related Deaths: A Cycle
"Noting the rise in cases, a spike, and then a gradual petering out over time was incredibly calming during the summer of 2020..."
Gender, Migration, and Madness Research Project 