Table Of ContentInventing the Feeble Mind
Inventing the Feeble Mind
A History of Intellectual Disability in
the United States
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James W. Trent Jr.
Gordon College
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Trent, James W., Jr., author.
Title: Inventing the feeble mind : a history of intellectual disability in
the United States / James W. Trent Jr.
Description: [Second edition]. | Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2016] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047794 | ISBN 9780199396184 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: | MESH: Intellectual Disability—history |
Institutionalization—history | Social Conditions—history | United States
Classification: LCC HV3006.A4 | NLM WM 11 AA1 | DDC 362.3/0973—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047794
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
1. Idiots in America 1
2. Edward Seguin and the Irony of Physiological Education 35
3. The Burden of the Feebleminded 55
4. Living and Working in the Institution, 1890– 1920 93
5. The Menace of the Feebleminded: At Century’s End: Human Weal
or Human Woe? 129
6. Sterilization, Parole, and Routinization 178
7. The Remaking of Intellectual Disability: Of War, Angels, Parents,
and Politicians 216
8. Intellectual Disability and the Dilemma of Doubt 259
Epilogue: On Suffering Fools Gladly 293
References 303
Index 349
( v )
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
I.1 Ward of the Lincoln State School 1970. Pulitzer prize- winning
photograph by Jack Dykinga of the Chicago Sun-T imes. (Courtesy of the
Chicago Sun-T imes) xvi
I.2 Bedroom of the Illinois Asylum for Feeble- Minded Children, ca. 1880.
(Courtesy of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Lovejoy
Library, Beverly Farm Records) xvi
1.1 Home of Hervey B. Wilbur and the first school for idiots in North
America, Barre, Massachusetts, ca. 1850. (From the Journal of
Psycho-A sthenics, 1897) 9
1.2 Grubb, an inmate at the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-
Minded Children, ca. 1857. (From Isaac N. Kerlin’s The Mind
Unveiled, 1858) 17
3.1 Imbecile boys, inmates at the Pennsylvania Training School for
Feeble- Minded Children, 1857. (From Isaac N. Kerlin’s The Mind
Unveiled, 1858) 57
3.2 Boys’ classroom, Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble- Minded
Children, 1886. (Courtesy of Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly Farm Records) 58
3.3 The laundry, Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble- Minded
Children, 1887. (Courtesy of Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly Farm Records) 59
3.4 Custodial cases: “Low grades,” ca. 1890. Inmates probably of the
Illinois Asylum for Feeble- Minded Children. (Courtesy of Southern
Illinois University at Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly
Farm Records) 75
3.5 Custodial case: “Mongoloid idiot,” ca. 1890. An inmate probably of the
Illinois Asylum for Feeble- Minded Children. (Courtesy of Southern
Illinois University at Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly
Farm Records) 76
3.6 Military drills, inmates at the Massachusetts School for the
Feeble- Minded, ca. 1890. (From the author’s collection) 78
( vii )
( viii ) List of Illustrations
3.7 Custodial building of the Illinois Asylum for Feeble- Minded Children
at Lincoln, ca. 1885. (Courtesy of Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly Farm Records) 87
3.8 Wrentham School for the Feeble- Minded in Massachusetts.
(From the Proceedings of the American Association for the Study of
the Feeble-M inded, 1924) 87
4.1 Participants at the annual meeting of the American Association
for the Study of the Feeble- Minded, 1910. (Courtesy Southern
Illinois University at Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly
Farm Records) 94
4.2 Swinging, 1932. A photograph taken at Letchworth Village, New York,
by Margaret Bourke- White. (Courtesy of Syracuse University
Library, Special Collections Department, Margaret Bourke- White
Papers) 98
4.3 Boys’ band at the Rome State School in New York, 1925. (From
James C. Riggs’s Hello Doctor: A Brief Biography of Charles Bernstein,
1936) 100
4.4 Industrial training at the Rome State School in New York, ca. 1920.
(From James C. Riggs’s Hello Doctor: A Brief Biography of Charles
Bernstein, 1936) 108
4.5 Shoemaking shop at the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-
Minded Children (Elwyn Institute), ca. 1885. (Courtesy of Southern
Illinois University at Edwardsville, Lovejoy Library, Beverly
Farm Records) 109
4.6 Nurses’ training class at the Rome State School in New York, 1928.
(From James C. Riggs’s Hello Doctor: A Brief Biography of Charles
Bernstein, 1936) 109
4.7 Frank Giroux, an inmate burned at the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-
Minded Children, 1908. (From the Illinois General Assembly’s
Investigation of Illinois State Institutions: Testimony, Findings,
and Debate, 1908) 117
5.1– 5.3 Special classes, Rochester, ca. 1910. (From the Journal
of Psycho-A sthenics, 1912) 143
5.4 “Cincinnati’s Problem,” 1915. Cover of The Feeble- Minded, a pamphlet
distributed by the Juvenile Protective Association of Cincinnati.
(Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection) 171
6.1 Brush farm colony at the Rome State School in New York, 1936.
(From James C. Riggs’s Hello Doctor: A Brief Biography of
Charles Bernstein, 1936) 198
6.2 Domestic workers with Charles Bernstein at the Rome State School
in New York, ca. 1925. (From James C. Riggs’s Hello Doctor: A Brief
Biography of Charles Bernstein, 1936) 199
List of Illustrations ( ix )
7.1 In the laundry, 1932. A photograph taken at Letchworth Village,
New York, by Margaret Bourke- White. (Courtesy of Syracuse
University Library, Special Collections Department, Margaret
Bourke- White Papers) 217
7.2 Weaving, 1932. A photograph taken at Letchworth Village, New York,
by Margaret Bourke- White. (Courtesy of Syracuse University
Library, Special Collections Department, Margaret Bourke- White
Papers) 217
7.3 Ready for a deep furrow, 1940. A photograph taken at Letchworth
Village, New York, by Arnold Genthe. (From New York State,
Department of Mental Hygiene, Life at Letchworth Village,
1948) 218
7.4 At the loom, 1940. A photograph taken at Letchworth Village,
New York, by Arnold Genthe. (From New York State, Department
of Mental Hygiene, Life at Letchworth Village, 1948) 219
7.5 National Association for Retarded Children’s executive director,
Gunnar Dybwad, presents Distinguished Service Award to
Dale Evans Rogers and Roy Rogers, 1959. (From the author’s
collection) 232
8.1 Art of Henry Darger “By Means of a Clever Trick” (Courtesy of
the estate of Henry Darger, Art Resource, New York, N.Y.) 260
8.2 Judith Scott at work on her fabric sculpture. (Courtesy of Lilia
Scott) 262
