Quakers & Mental Health: Friends Asylum Through the Years

Monday, December 11, 2023

9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Lutnick Library LUT 220B Lobby Display

12/11/2023 09:00 AM America/New_York Quakers & Mental Health: Friends Asylum Through the Years Lutnick Library

This event occurred Monday, December 11, 2023 and is provided for archive purposes. Content and links may have changed.

Contact

Heckert, Dawn A

dheckert@haverford.edu

Type

Exhibition

Audience

Faculty and Staff
Students

Event Calendar

Quakers & Mental Health: Friends Asylum Through the Years

Curated by Maia Roark ‘25 & Morgan Soutos ‘24

October 16 through December 22, 2023

This exhibit examines the history of the first 100 years of Friends Hospital, also known as the Friends Asylum for Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason, opened in 1817. The brainchild of Philadelphia Quaker Thomas Scattergood, the Asylum was both the first private mental hospital in the United States and the first psychiatric institution in the United States to employ moral treatment: treating patients with kindness and patience, only restraining them as a last resort, and instilling meaningful habits that promoted growth. This exhibit examines different aspects of the Asylum’s first hundred years, from patient admissions to entertainment to its built environment.