Full access
Annual Meeting
Published Online: 6 April 2007

Psychiatry's Landmarks Live on Through Postcards

Joan Arehart-TreichelAuthors Info & Affiliations
Publication: Psychiatric News
Volume 42, Number 7
https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.42.7.0013
Are you interested in mental health care of yore, when palatial asylums and sanitariums were at their zenith of development and mineral springs and even mud baths were heralded as having mental and physical therapeutic qualities?
One of Robert Gardner's historic postcards (top) shows the state mental hospital at Stockton, Calif. The other touts the health qualities of the water at Shasta Springs, Calif.
Then you should check out a collection of historic mental hospital postcards that will be shown at the APA annual meeting in San Diego in May.
The postcard collection belongs to Robert Gardner, M.D., of Lynchburg, Va., who jokingly refers to himself as “Dr. Nostalgia.”
This is the first time that the aggregation will be shown on the West Coast, Gardner told Psychiatric News. It also contains “bells and whistles” that it didn't possess in its previous showings, he said.“ There is an increased international flavor, as I have discovered many new foreign cards from institutions in Canada, England, Germany, and other countries.”
Gardner's interest in mental hospital postcards started many years ago.“ I went to a stamp show, and one of the dealers had a box of postcards. I fingered through them and noticed that two were of mental hospitals. It never occurred to me that there were mental hospitals on postcards. But if you think about it, why not? So I bought them and that started it—I started collecting them.”
Later, after Gardner had acquired a sizable collection of mental hospital postcards, he met another psychiatrist who collected them as well. It was Leonard Rothstein, M.D., of Baltimore. He and Rothstein got together and exhibited postcards from their joint collection at the 1978, 1986, and 1994 APA annual meetings. Rothstein died in 2003, so Gardner has been exhibiting solo since.
Does Gardner have any favorite mental hospital postcards?
“Of course, being a Virginian,” he replied, “I like the ones showing the first state public mental hospital in the United States—what was earlier referred to as the Williamsburg Lunatic Asylum and what is now known as Eastern State Hospital.”
He also tends to favor postcards issued during the earliest years of the 20th century because “they were so gorgeous and well made.”
Picture postcards came into being around 1900, about the same time that American mental hospitals were built in large numbers. Thus Gardner's 2000-plus postcards are collector items because they have historic value beyond the subject matter. Indeed, at the 2005 APA annual meeting, three psychiatrists wanted to purchase the entire collection. But Gardner said no thanks. ▪

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric News
Psychiatric News
Volume 42 • Number 7 • April 6, 2007
Pages: 13

History

Published online: 6 April 2007
Published in print: April 6, 2007

Notes

For the sixth time in three decades, a psychiatrist will be showing his historic mental hospital postcard collection at an APA annual meeting. The collection now includes more than 2,000 postcards and is more international.

Authors

Affiliations

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard
Tips for downloading citations

There are no citations for this item

View Options

View options

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share

×

As described within the American Psychiatric Association (APA)'s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences. Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.