The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library

Insane Department

About This Item

Title

Insane Department

Subject

Psychiatric Department, Hospital
Mentally Ill Persons
Men
Exercise
Blockley Almshouse
Philadelphia General Hospital
Photographs

Description

male patients in insane exercising yard.
Back of image: exercising yard, insane department. Male side showing part of the ward building
See: Charles Lawrence, History of Philadelphia Almshouses and Hospitals (1905), p. 214. See PGH Box 16 #22

Source

Original image: Philadelphia General Hospital Photograph Collection, Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, box 18, photo no. 3
Philadelphia General Hospital was originally part of the Philadelphia Almshouse, which was founded in 1731 for the city’s poor, elderly and indigent. Nicknamed “Old Blockley,” because of its location in Blockley Township of West Philadelphia, the hospital was renamed Philadelphia General Hospital in 1919. The hospital eventually closed in 1977. The images in this collection have been compiled from a number of sources but appear to be predominantly from the personal photo albums of attending physicians.

Publisher

Digitized by the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Date

ca. 1899

Type

StillImage

Identifier

PGH_18_3

Temporal Coverage

History, 19th Century

Spatial Coverage

Philadelphia

Original Format

1 photograph : albumen print, sepia

Physical Dimensions

16 x 21.5 cm

Citation

“Insane Department,” The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library, accessed April 20, 2024, https://cppdigitallibrary.org/items/show/782.