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In the 19th and 20th centuries, reformers in the United States and Europe built asylums in response to a range of social issues including disability - mental health, and alcoholism. These documents and images from the NLM Digital Collections bring to life the day to day experiences of people at these sites: the conditions of the asylums and the limits on liberty that many people in them experienced.

A newspaper clipping

“Asylum Deaths: List of Unnatural Endings of Patients Sent by the Coroner to Gov. Lowden to Aid Inquiry,” The Chicago Daily Tribune, December 4, 1918

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

In 1918 the coroner sent a list of unnatural deaths at the Chicago State Hospital for the Insane to the Governor asking him to investigate. “Hundreds of relatives and friends of inmates are making inquiry concerning the place.” This list documents people dying from suicide, escape attempts, and violence.