Why asylum libraries?
The beginnings of my project: William Chester Minor, Broadmoor, and unexpected reading privileges.
CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF THE ASYLUM
How is the asylum conceived of in twenty-first century society, culture and media?
The ‘exceptional’ asylum?
By the nineteenth century, ‘moral treatment’ was in vogue, and with it came a slew of changes in patient life.
nineteenth-century print culture
New technologies opened up new opportunities for the reading public. Who was reading, and what did they choose?
mapping public asylums
Building the Asylums Map and choosing a suitable set of case studies for the project.
dANGEROUS READING
As reading became more accessible, existing debates about the potential physical and moral dangers of reading intensified.
NETWORK ANALYSIS AT DHSI
Learning how to build networks, gathering data from a week in the life of Samuel Pepys, and asylum networks.
Restorative reading
If reading the wrong things in the wrong way was harmful, could reading the right things in the right way be helpful?
Fact or fantasy?
The other side of the coin: the romanticisation of the asylum system. How accurate are romantic perceptions? Part 1 of 2.
Reclaiming/Rejecting the Asylum
How does research into the ‘positives’ fit into building a nuanced public history of asylums? Part 2 of 2.
‘Bookcase credibility’ in the asylum
What can we learn from the display (and lack of display) of books in images of the asylum?
Beggars, thieves, and escape artists
In a library filled with biographies of ‘eminent men,’ how do the lives of criminals end up on the shelves?
Reading anxiety(ies)
In times of stress, we turn to books. Should we read around, or about, the things which worry us?
The Asylum Libraries Catalogue: sources
Examining the surviving library catalogues from three Scottish asylums. Part 1 of 2.
fruits & farinacea: or, the asylum kitchen
Exploring the contents of the Royal Edinburgh’s library and kitchen.
BOOKS OF THE ASYLUM: THE PEARL OF DAYS
Examining Barbara H. Farquhar’s The Pearl of Days, held at the Crichton Royal Institution Library.
The Asylum Libraries Catalogue: PROCESS
Dealing with unreliable cataloguing, and creating a catalogue suitable for analysis. Part 2 of 2.