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Digital resources related to the History of Psychiatry
We have compiled primary and secondary digital resources from the University of Edinburgh and beyond on the history of psychiatry in the UK, to aid research and teaching.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Philo, C. and Andrews, J. (2017) Introduction: histories of asylums, insanity and psychiatry in Scotland, History of Psychiatry, Volume 28: Issue 1
This paper would be a useful starting point for new researchers, as it provides an overview of the historiography of work that currently exists on the history of psychiatry in Scotland, as well as advocating more recent contributions to the field.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X16678566
Dickinson E. (1990) From Madness to Mental Health: A Brief History of Psychiatric Treatments in the UK from 1800 to the Present. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Volume 53: Issue 10
As the title suggests, this article provides a broad history of psychiatry over the last three hundred years and investigates how social and political forces of the period have shaped the course of these developments.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/030802269005301009
Chaney, S. (2016) ‘No ‘Sane’ Person Would Have Any Idea’: Patients’ Involvement in Late Nineteenth-century British Asylum Psychiatry, Medical History. Cambridge University Press, Volume 60: Issue 1
Chaney investigates the over-looked role of the asylum patient in shaping Victorian psychiatry studies, particularly the involvement of Bethlem Hospital patients Walter Abraham Haigh and Henry Francis Harding.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/mdh.2015.67
Barfoot M and Beveridge A (1990) Madness at the crossroads: John Home’s letters from the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, 1886–1887, Psychological Medicine, Volume 20: Issue 2
This paper highlights the human aspect of Victorian asylum life through an analysis of letters written by John Home, a certified inmate of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital from 1886–87 (digital copies of these letters can be requested from LHSA). Some interpretative difficulties surrounding the use of medical records, patient letters and other evidence are also examined.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700017591
Beveridge. A (1995) Madness in Victorian Edinburgh: a study of patients admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum under Thomas Clouston, 1873–1908, History of Psychiatry, Volume 6: Issues 1&2
In both articles, Beveridge offers a detailed examination of the patients admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, investigating – using Superintendent Physician Clouston’s own case notes and records – reasons for admission, demographic variations and classifications amid wider Victorian societal and medical doctrines.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X9500602102 (Part I)
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X9500602202 (Part II)
Beveridge A (1997) Voices of the mad: patients' letters from the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, 1873–1908, Psychological Medicine, Volume 27: Issue 4
Patient perspectives are expressed through a rich archive of letters from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, written between 1873-1908. These letters highlight the unchanging nature of mental illness over a vast period, but also act as evidence of the severity of mental health disorders suffered by those admitted. See Beveridge’s lecture from the RCPE on the same theme (Video and Audio Resources).
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329179700490X
Davis, G. (2012) The most deadly disease of asylumdom: General paralysis of the insane and Scottish psychiatry, c.1840-1940. The journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Volume 42: Issue 3
For researchers interested in disorders, this paper details one of the most prolific neuropsychiatric illnesses from the mid-nineteenth century, ‘General Paralysis of the Insane.’ Davis assesses the historical significance of this terminal prognosis, through patient and staff records of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
Link: http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/journal/issue/journal_42_3/davis.pdf
Jones, Edgar et al. (2014) Battle for the mind: World War 1 and the birth of military psychiatry, The Lancet, Volume 384: Issue 9955
This article looks at military psychiatry during the First World War, an era which saw the introduction of the disorder Shellshock and the treatment, Forward Psychiatry. The authors are also keen to stress that post traumatic disorders did not emerge solely as a result of WWI. The article contains an audio clip by Prof Edgar Jones discussing the legacy of the war on psychiatric research.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource
Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61260-5
Long, V. (2017) ‘Heading up a blind alley’? Scottish psychiatric hospitals in the era of deinstitutionalization, History of Psychiatry, Volume 28: Issue 1
This article would appeal to researchers of Scottish provision of psychiatric care in the 1960s and 1970s. It charts the aftermath of the Ministry of Health’s decision to shut down psychiatric hospitals in 1961 and investigates the emergence of new post-war methods in psychiatric treatment.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X16673025
EBOOKS
Building up our Health: the architecture of Scotland’s historic hospitals, 2016, Historic Scotland
This book provides a taste of the rich architectural heritage of Scotland’s hospitals; the chapter entitled Mental Health is particularly relevant to the history of psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. See Richardson’s blog for further information on this topic (Other Online Resources).
The following are a selection of open access eBooks (free, unlimited access) on the history of psychiatry in the UK, taken from the Mental Health in Historical Perspective book series (Palgrave Macmillan).
Jansson, Å. (2021) From Melancholia to Depression: Disordered Mood in Nineteenth-Century Psychiatry
The changing attitude towards depression is considered, from the archaic notion of ‘melancholia’ to a formal scientific mental health disorder. Analysis spans the 1830s to the turn of the twentieth century.
Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030548018
Wallis, J. (2017) Investigating the Body in the Victorian Asylum: Doctors, Patients, and Practices
Offering insight into how Victorian physicians investigated mental health disorders through examination of their patients’ bodies, each chapter focusses on different physiological areas - the skin, muscles, bones, brain, and bodily fluids.
Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319567136
Hilton, C. (2021) Civilian Lunatic Asylums During the First World War: A Study of Austerity on London's Fringe
This book examines psychiatric treatment of civilians during the First World War, drawing upon primary source material to trace its impact on the welfare state, through case study examinations of four contemporary London asylums.
Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-54871-1
Haggett, A. (2015) A History of Male Psychological Disorders in Britain, 1945-1980
For gender-focused exploration, this book investigates male mental illness of the mid-twentieth century. It argues that statistics suggesting women have been more vulnerable to depression and anxiety are misleading, since they underplay a host of alternative presentations of 'distress' more common in men.
Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137448873
Hilton, C. (2017) Improving Psychiatric Care for Older People: Barbara Robb’s Campaign 1965-1975
The story of Barbara Robb is at the centre of this book, who campaigned for improved mental health provisions in the 1960s - actions which would eventually lead to reforming of UK Government policy. As well as historians, the book will appeal to campaigners, health and social care staff and others working with older people, as well as those with an interest in policy development.
Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319548128
Taylor, Steven J., Brumby, Alice (Eds.) (2020) Healthy Minds in the Twentieth Century: In and Beyond the Asylum
A broader social and cultural perspective, this book connects psychiatry with twentieth century concepts of modernity. It considers mental health through lenses of institutions, policy, nomenclature, art, lived experience, and popular culture.
Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030272746
ORGANISATIONS WITH ONLINE RESOURCES
Mental Healthcare Collections, Wellcome Library
The library is in the process of digitising and making accessible 800,000 records of key UK psychiatric institutions, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. With material regularly added, there is already an extensive mental healthcare digital collection, consisting mainly of annual reports and papers. For Scottish hospitals, users can access the digitised papers of Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries, as well as Gartnavel Royal Hospital (formerly Glasgow Lunatic Asylum) the latter of which contains patient case notes and admissions from 1838-1913. The blog series Asylum and Beyond features articles by guest researchers, spanning topics from asylum art to language used to describe mental health.
Link: https://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/digital-collections/mental-healthcare/
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Digitised Material
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) offers a comprehensive online gateway into the College’s own historic collections as well as digital resources on the history of Psychiatry in Scotland and beyond. Digitised nineteenth century texts can be located through RCPE’s collection on the UKMHL (Other Online Resources) of which twenty-five are on the subject of psychiatry. For researchers interested in historic psychiatric institutions, there are letters from Andrew Duncan the Elder (who proposed the building of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital) and from the Alexander Morison collection, portraits of patients at Bethlem, Surrey County and Hanwell Asylums dating from the mid-nineteenth century.
Other Learning Resources
RCPE’s blog spans a range of articles on the history of psychiatry, from shellshock studies to the art of patient William Blacklock. There is also an online exhibition exploring the history of mental health through the College’s collection, and a 360-degree virtual tour of the exhibition Moonstruck: 500 Years of Mental Health (guided tour under Audio and Video Resources).
Link: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage
Great Minds, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
This online exhibition is dedicated to the pioneering work of Glasgow surgeon William Macewen, and historic scientific advancements in brain surgeries. As well as charting his life’s work - pioneering the world’s first successful brain tumour removal - the exhibition also features highlights from the College’s library, illustrating broader developments and changing attitudes towards mental health and welfare.
Link: https://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/exhibits/show/great-minds-exhibit
The Royal College of Psychiatrists Libraries and Archives
This 180 year old institution is the professional and educational body for psychiatrists in the UK. The archives collection consists mainly of records created by the College and its predecessor bodies, a small collection of deposited archives and manuscripts, and an antiquarian book collection on the history of psychiatry. Digital resources are varied in scope and format; there is a transcript of a witness seminar on psychiatric wards of the 1960s, with first-hand accounts by staff and patients. More specific to the College’s history, the online archive Madness to Mental Illness contains extensive information on individuals and activities associated with Victorian asylums. The blog features articles written by College Historian Dr Claire Hilton, as well as digital displays and posters on notable figures, such as Dr Helen Boyle of Brighton, First Woman President of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association.
Link: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/about-us/library-and-archives
‘Melancholia’ and ‘Mania’ factsheet, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
This factsheet charts the historical use of pharmaceuticals in treating early mental illnesses. The original link from the RPS site could not be located but can be accessed via the link below.
Link: https://silo.tips/download/melancholia-and-mania
University of Dundee Archive Services
The University of Dundee Archive Services holds the records of NHS Tayside, relating to hospitals and asylums in Dundee, Perth and Angus. Users can access digitised images of selected nineteenth century records, including Royal Charters, patient case books and registers, as well as architectural plans and drawings of the hospitals. The site also contains a virtual exhibition about the Royal Asylum of Montrose (now Sunnyside Royal Hospital) featuring archive photographs of the hospital, staff and patients.
Link: https://arccat.dundee.ac.uk/
Mind Matters: Neuroscience and Psychiatry, King’s College London Special Collections
This online exhibition covers neuroscience and psychiatry from 1800 to 1945, demonstrating the College’s own contribution to the field through profiles of psychiatrists Aubrey and Hilda Lewis, drawing upon the College’s primary collections material like casebooks and letters.
Link: https://kingscollections.org/exhibitions/specialcollections/mind-matters/
Hospital Records Database, The National Archives
The Hospital Records Database contains the administrative details of UK hospitals (and their status or type), the location and covering dates of administrative and clinical records, the existence of lists, catalogues or other finding aids, and links to some online hospital catalogues previously on Access to Archives (A2A) and now on Discovery.
Note: As the database was last updated in 2012 some information may no longer be accurate, for example the location of records.
Link: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/default.asp
Objects and Stories on Mental Health, The Science Museum
A selection of curated online resources, featuring an insight into Hanwell Mental Asylum and the emergence of the specialist medical branch Neurology. Also included are digitised objects and records from the Science Museum Group and the Wellcome Library Collections, such as images of apparatus.
Link: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/mental-health
Bethlem Museum of the Mind
The museum of the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital (founded 1247). Digital image collections include patient photographs, meeting minutes from the seventeenth century and admission registers from the eighteenth century. Users can also experience a virtual 360-degree tour of the museum, and there are several interactive learning resources on specific aspects of the hospital’s history, as well as a blog post on Bangour Hospital in West Lothian, Scotland.
Link: https://museumofthemind.org.uk/
Glenside Hospital Museum
The museum’s website offers comprehensive information about the hospital’s history, as well as a blog with more detailed insights into past activities. Users can view digital images of some of the Musuem’s collection, as well as access an oral history archive from those who lived, worked and visited Glenside Hospital, formerly Bristol Lunatic Asylum.
Link: http://www.glensidemuseum.org.uk/
A History of Disability: from 1050 to the Present Day, Historic England
Although this resource spans a more general history of disability, the historic connection between psychiatry and the built environment is considered. These include the establishment of the early ‘madhouse’ Brooke House, Bethlem Hospital, and the growth of asylums in the nineteenth century. Researchers can search HE’s online archive collection for plans, photographs, drawings and other such primary material.
Link: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/
Royal College of Nursing Digital Archive
There is a small selection of digitised material to view relating to psychiatric nursing, including a nurse’s badge for the Royal Edinburgh Hospital from 1950 and a photograph of Murthly Asylum, c1900.
Link: https://rcn.access.preservica.com/archive/
IMAGE DATABASES AND COLLECTIONS
Wellcome Library Image Catalogue
Researchers can access free, downloadable images from the Wellcome library and museum collections. Searching the keyword ‘Psychiatry’ into the image database returns several pages of results spanning etchings, lithographs and photographs of digitised primary material, including illustrations of asylum apparatus and portraits. These cover the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Link: https://wellcomecollection.org/images
LHSA Flickr Albums
LHSA’s Flickr page contains drawings of and by patients at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital collected by Dr Thomas Clouston, who was Physician Superintendent in the nineteenth century. There are also images of the REH Royal Charter, which date back to 1792, as well as images of the REH publication ‘The Morningside Mirror’ from the early 1960s.
Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49439570@N08/albums
John Willis Mason Scrapbooks, LHSA, University of Edinburgh Images Collections
These digitised pages make up two scrapbooks, dated 1883 and between 1879-1885 respectively, which were acquired by Dr Thomas Clouston. They were created by Royal Edinburgh Hospital patient John Willis Mason, and contain personal artwork and writings, as well as diecut Victorian scrap sheets.
SCRAN
SCRAN is a charity and online learning resource base with 360,000 images, movies and sounds from museums, galleries, archives and the media across the whole of Scotland and the UK. LHSA contributed to SCRAN between 1998 and 1999, digitising and submitting 1,856 images to the online image database. Results from searching the keyword ‘Psychiatry’ include an interior view of a dormitory at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and photographs of nursing staff (both from the LHSA image collection).
Link: https://www.scran.ac.uk/
ArtUK
ArtUK provides an accessible database to all public art collections in the UK, with over 3,300 British institutions involved. The art collections of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of Physicians (London and Edinburgh) and NHS Lothian can all be accessed on this digital platform.
Link: https://artuk.org/
VIDEO AND AUDIO RESOURCES
Promoting Mental Health Through the Lessons of History, University of St Andrews
This comprehensive digital resource is the culmination of a long-term project by Professor Rab Houston, on the history of psychiatry in Britain and Ireland, spanning the last 500 years to present day. Houston has created three podcast series on the subject and episodes take the form of interviews and conversations between himself and a guest researcher and/or medical professional. Researchers can also access a digital presentation and talk to accompany Houston’s previously curated exhibition Prisoners or Patients? Criminal Insanity in Victorian Scotland, which was held at the National Records of Scotland in 2019.
Link: https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/psychhist/
Graves of the Asylum, BBC Radio Scotland
The full programme about Bangour Village Hospital is currently unavailable, but users can access several audio clips about the hospital’s history, including a talk delivered by Dr John Crichton (current Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland) and a personal insight from a former patient.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001hsj
Archives and Mental Health, University of Dundee Archives
These three presentations by University Archivist Caroline Brown, deliver a comprehensive overview of the history of psychiatry and hospitals in Dundee and the surrounding area in the nineteenth century, illustrated by the University Archive’s primary material.
Link: https://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/thearchiveonline/archivesandmentalhealth/
Bethlem Museum of The Mind YouTube Channel
The museum’s channel contains many informative videos on the history of the hospital – from showcases of prominent items in their collections, to oral history interviews by former staff at Warlingham Park Hospital (their archives were transferred to Bethlem following its closure).
Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxNo9mRSgiDt01QmrFZT0yw/videos
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Mental Health Lectures
The RCPE has compiled talks on the history of mental health as a video playlist. These include a lecture by Dr Allan Beveridge on psychiatrist Thomas Clouston, and the collection of patient letters which illuminate everyday life in the asylum, as well as a talk by John Crichton on forensic psychiatry. These are also available audio only, via the RCPE’s Casenotes podcast.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe1JIjPVYwRi1IbIzR7mATW4jRybhBugQ
History of Medicine Shorts
These shorter videos (around 10 minutes) contain two videos on psychiatry; a guided video tour of the exhibition Moonstruck: 500 Years of Mental Health and a talk about REH founder Andrew Duncan by David Purdie.
Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe1JIjPVYwRif_iW8Lkx2uZUHaBOBOujS
Oral History Interviews
Full length oral history interviews with Fellows and Members of the RCPE, notably with psychiatrists Professor Henry Walton and William Boyd discussing their professional career. Interviews were conducted in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Link: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/oral-history-full-length-interviews
Madness and Architecture: An Archaeology of Lunatic Asylums, University of Liverpool
Dr Burçak Özlüdil delivers the first in a series of lectures from the University of Liverpool’s School of Architecture on historical and contemporary perspectives on mental health and the built environment. This particular lecture takes a largely nineteenth century European perspective, illustrated with examples of Ottoman Empire lunatic asylums.
Link: https://stream.liv.ac.uk/65xe86pc
Box of Broadcasts
Among a range of broadcasts on the history of psychiatry in the UK, is the 2019 ITV series ‘Secrets from the Asylum’ and the BBC documentary ‘Mental: A History of the Madhouse’, which looks at the closure of these asylums in the twentieth century.
NB: Institutional login is required to access this resource.
Link: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand
OTHER RESOURCES
UK Medical Heritage Library
The UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL) is an ongoing project between the Wellcome Collection, JISC and Internet Archive, bringing together books and pamphlets from ten research libraries in the UK on nineteenth and early twentieth century history of medicine and related disciplines. Digitised material is continually added, and from this single digital gateway users can currently view 153 English texts on the subject of psychiatry from a range of libraries, such as Glasgow University and Bristol University.
Link: https://archive.org/details/ukmhl
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