Midwest Photos 7

I had read about a museum in St. Joseph called the Glore Psychiatric Museum located at the site of the old State Lunatic Asylum No. 2 that featured exhibits of the history of mental health treatment. That's a place I wanted to see.
The old hospital was turned into a correctional facility. The museum is located in a newer building on the property.
These are the by-laws of the State Lunatic Asylum No. 1 in Fulton, Missouri. Section 2: Article 6: Byelaw 8-9 "The Salaries of the Superintendant (sic) shall be the sum of fifteen hundred dollars annually, that of the Steward the sum of five hundred dollars annually, that of the Matron the sum of three hundred dollars annually, and that of the Treasurer the sum of one hundred dollars annually. The officers Superintendant and Steward with their wives and minor children, if they or either one have, and matron with her minor children in case she have them shall reside in the Asylum without charge for provisions or for rent of rooms or furniture."
Most of the weird stuff is located in the basement. Boy, you don't see too many of these signs anymore.
This physical therapy room was in use until 1997.
My sister should be very wary of these things. She stepped on one when we were younger and she bled all over the place.
Although the morgue is not currently in use, the refrigeration units are still working and the slabs are cold. The temperature of the coolers is maintained at about 40 degrees.
There's Ms. Edith R. Plasticbody on the autopsy table.
Want to see something odd? From the description in the lower left of the case. The various nails, screws, bolts, nuts, buttons, thimbles, and other objects in this display were removed from the gastrointestinal tract of a patient in 1929. The patient had a compulsion for swallowing objects other than food and in spite of vigilance on the part of nurses and attendants, was able to acquire and swallow the items shown. Finally when the patient became acutely ill, an x-ray plate of the abdomen revealed the vast accumulation shown here. Surgery was performed and a total of 1446 objects were removed. The patient died in surgery.
This surgical table was located in the surgical unit in the Panettiere Building next door, which we will see a little later. Lobotomies were performed there in the 1930's and 1940's, perhaps on this table. Lobotomies were kind of disgusting. If you ever want to work up a big cringe, read about how they used to perform transorbital lobotomies.
Electro convulsive therapy is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brain seizure,
Syphilis accounted for 10% of the hospital's patients in the 30's and 40's. Doctors observed that a high fever could cure insanity brought on by third stage syphilis and looked for ways to elevate patients' temperature. Fever cabinets like these were lined with rows of high wattage lights and were designed to raise the body temperature above 105 degrees. They cured many cases but were terribly uncomfortable, sometimes causing burns.
This marble table was used in the colonic irrigation room for receiving enemas and for performing other medical examination procedures. There was a flushing toilet unit located directly under the opening in the table to receive body refuse. Go ahead and just try to erase that image from your mind.
I suppose Dr. Young's Ideal Rectal Dilators sounds more professional than Dr. Young's Butt Plugs. And to think they were used for medical purposes in the olden days.
Cold pack treatment involved wrapping a naked patient in wet, usually very cold sheets which were covered by a woolen blanket. It was intended to calm patients.
Finally something just about everyone will recognize, other than the butt plugs. Good old-fashioned physical restraints.
The first EEG machine came to the hospital in 1960. The two psychiatrists in charge of the machine had differing opinions about its use and success. After constant bickering, one of them hid it. Yeah, that's real grown up.
This door was taken from a seclusion room. Looks a bit like a jail cell door.
Here's the Panettiere Building I mentioned earlier. No relation to the lovely Hayden Panettiere I don't think. In addition to the Glore Museum they have some other "museums" here such as the St. Joseph Museum and St. Joseph Black Archives. They aren't much of anything other than collections of things seemingly thrown together in the rooms and hallways of the hospital building in whatever space they could find.
Believe it or not, this is supposedly the Missouri Music Hall of Fame. Yes, this single room with everything you see here.
This was part of the St. Joseph Black Archives. You could get these rag dolls, full size and ready to cut and stuff sent to any address postpaid upon receipt of four coupons taken from packages of Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour.