Revisioning the historic mental hospital: a 19th century institution in a 21st century context

Time: 5:30pm

Location: Helen McClelland Conference Room, 2 Pine West, Pennsylvania Hospital

Historian Nancy Tomes (SUNY Stony Brook) will discuss the resurgence of interest in Kirkbride era mental hospitals over the past two decades. Why does the fate of these institutions, many of which have closed since the 1990s, continue to fascinate and engage community groups, patient activists, film makers, and historical preservationists? Professor Tomes career as a scholar started with a history of the first Kirkbride hospital, the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane (better known as the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital). In her presentation, she will draw on both her own experience as a Kirkbride scholar as well as her knowledge of national and international asylum preservation and repurposing efforts. She will explore the reasons for the persistent interest in institutions such as the PHI, as well as the new opportunities and challenges that scholars today face both in researching and preserving the historic asylum.

Please RSVP to Stacey Peeples 215-829-5434 or stacey.peeples@uphs.upenn.edu by April 22, 2013.