National History Day Topic: Dorothea Lynde Dix and the Asylum Movement
Guiding Historical Question: Did Dorothea Dix impact the reform of mental
institutions/prisons and treatment of mental patients/convicts during the 19th century and
how did she do so? Was she effective in making a change?
Author: Dolores (Lori) Sanker
Date: October 27, 2011
Primary Source #1
Title: Lunatic Asylums
Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.
Introduction:
This inquiry will examine Dorothea Lynde Dix and the impact that she made on the
treatment of the mentally ill in the United States.
Dorothea Dix was a major figure in the United States mental hygiene movement in the 19th
century. She forcefully advocated for the establishment of more psychiatric hospitals. Since
there were few large existing buildings comparable to those in Europe, she lobbied for the
setting aside of over 12 million acres of wilderness for the mentally ill (Figure 9). She was
unsuccessful in this endeavor, however. She helped to found many asylums, which reached
48 in number by 1861. Approximately 8500 patients were hospitalized at that time in which
there were 27 million residents in the United States.
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
2. Dorothea Lynde Dix to Abraham Lincoln,
Monday, June 17, 1861 (Interview)
Dorothea Dix was leader of a worldwide
movement to establish hospitals and
reform the treatment of people afflicted
with mental illness. In April 1861 she
was appointed superintendent of women
nurses and acted in this capacity during
the Civil War.
3. Bills and Resolution, House of
Representatives, 40th Congress, referred
to the Committee on the Post Office and
Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Maynard, on leave, introduced the
following bill: A Bill Conferring the
franking privilege on Miss Dorothea L.
Dix.
4. Dorothea Dix Submits a Report to the
Legislature. While touring prisons for two
years, Dix made a detailed record of
1. Notable Women: Dorothea Dix. [The
Century; a popular quarterly. / Volume 45,
Issue 3, Jan 1893]
2. Women's Intellectual Contributions to the
Study of Mind and Society. Students, as part
of an advanced seminar, examined and
wrote about the lives of these women, their
intellectual contributions, and the unique
impact and special problems that being
female had on their careers.
3. Ruins of the first state prison in Illinois.
Built in 1830-31. Ruins of the first state
prison in Illinois. Built in 1830-31.
Unsanitary conditions aroused persistent
criticism from Dorothea Dix, pioneer in
prison reform. All inmates were transferred
to Joliet prior to 1860. During the Civil War
many Confederate prisoners were
incarcerated here and deaths averaged to
ten a day.
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what she saw in the prisons. After
compiling these sitings, she submitted
them to the legislature, hoping for better
conditions for criminals and the mentally
ill. In time, she would move on to New
Jersey, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Lousiana,
South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and
Arkansas in an effort to reform prisons
across the country.
5. Out of an insane asylum: A released
patient’s remarkable story of cruel
treatment.
4. Prison and Asylum Reform. After touring
prisons, workhouses, almshouses, and
private homes to gather evidence of
appalling abuses, she made her case for
state-supported care. Ultimately, she not
only helped establish five hospitals in
America, but also went to Europe where she
successfully pleaded for human rights to
Queen Victoria and the Pope.
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