For another awe-inspiring experience, St. Joseph’s Glore Psychiatric Museum leads you through exhibits that illustrate the history and progress of mental health treatment. The museum is one of only a few of its kind in the nation, making it a must-see.
Established in 1968 as a collection of displays for a St. Joseph State Hospital open house, the Glore Psychiatric Museum now presents over 10,000 items for viewing. The original displays were created by the museum’s namesake, George Glore, and are still a part of today’s collection. These exhibits give visitors a life-size visual of what mental health treatment devices looked like in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Glore, then the occupational therapist for the St. Joseph State Hospital, worked with his patients to create the original displays. Donations from across the nation have gradually expanded the Glore Psychiatric Museum’s exhibits over its 48-year history. Today, the exhibits include surgical tools, treatment equipment and doctors’ personal notes. Patient artwork, such as pottery, paintings and needlework, is also on display to give visitors an idea of the daily challenges patients faced. “Famous” exhibits include the contents removed from a former patient’s stomach (such as nails, thimbles and eating utensils) and a television set packed full of handwritten notes created by another former patient.
All four floors of the museum are available for viewing, in addition to a section of the 1930s tunnels once used to transport food, supplies and even patients between St. Joseph State Hospital buildings. The tunnel walls are now murals painted by patients during the late 1980s.
Whether you have a passion for history or architecture, or you want to gain a better understanding of mental illness and the evolution of its understanding and treatment, a trip to St. Joseph is sure to prove both educational and rewarding.
The exhibit of thoughts embroidered by a patient onto a section of bed sheet at the Glore Psychiatric Museum never fails to capture the attention of visitors.
St. Joseph State Hospital No. 2 nurses, circa 1900
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