Chance Encounters in the Museum 1

Earlier this month this blog encouraged people to come to the Archives & Museum to see Caius Gabriel Cibber’s statues of Raving and Melancholy Madness for themselves. Well, last week we welcomed an impromptu visit from a scholar who had come over 8000 miles to do just that, following in the footsteps of Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz, a German travel writer of the eighteenth century whose memoirs she is translating into English for publication.

We got to talking in the Museum, and I discovered that Archenholz’s impressions of the Hospital, then at Moorfields (but nothing to do with the Eye Hospital), were published in 1785. “The mad hospital, Bedlam, has no equal in terms of its conveniences and provisions for this unfortunate category of people,” he wrote. “Its entrance is adorned by two statues by an English sculptor named Cibber that are among the greatest works of art in England. One is the image of a man in the deepest melancholy; the one opposite represents a raging person lying in chains. These two figures show so much truth and expressiveness that they equal the best sculptures in Westminster Abbey.” (Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz, England und Italien Vol. 1 (Leipzig: Verlag der Dikischen Buchhandlung, 1785), pp. 206f).

For those who can’t make the trip to the Archives & Museum, perhaps the next best thing is to go to www.bethlemheritage.org.uk/visitingbethlem, where other eighteenth-century accounts of visiting the Hospital (and much else besides) can be found.

Hallucinations and Delusions

The Bethlem Archives contain 450 years of material, including committee minutes and papers dating from 1559, as well as financial, administrative and clinical records, correspondence, private papers, reports and photographs for much of the history of the Hospital. The amount of material created and stored expanded in the nineteenth century. In 1853, Bethlem became subject to the Lunacy Acts (1845), which heavily regulated the numerous county pauper asylums and private “madhouses” built by this date. Patient casebooks had to be regularly updated, and many records are detailed, providing fascinating insight into nineteenth century culture and society, as well as life in the asylum and individual patients (NB. Only cases dating from over 100 years ago are open to public inspection). The Notes from the Archives series, penned by one of our researchers, will cover some of these insights.

Nineteenth century asylum medical officers – or alienists, as they were often known – showed particular interest in the content of the hallucinations and delusions of many of their patients. From the early 1880s, these had to be recorded in detail by a medical officer on admission of the patient to Bethlem – information was also requested during an interview with a relative. From 1886, hallucinations were divided into those of sight, hearing, taste, smell and “common sensation,” while delusions included those of exaltation (such as belief in special or superior powers) and depression (most commonly religious loss or worldly ruin), as well as delusions relating to food, which often resulted in a patient refusing to eat. Some delusions are specific, and indicate particular themes or events and the ways in which they were picked up by Victorian society.

Portraits: Patients and Psychiatrists – Behind the scenes of the exhibition

Portraits; Patients and Psychiatrists By Gemma Anderson
New show at the Bethlem Gallery 19 May – 18 June 2010

The new Bethlem Gallery exhibition opened this week. Portraits: Patients and Psychiatrists is a series of portraits of psychiatric patients and their doctors, developed through a Wellcome Trust Arts Award winning collaboration between artist Gemma Anderson and Forensic Psychiatrist Tim McInerny. Gemma provides fascinating information on the development of the portraits on her blog; gemmaanderson.wordpress.com

From August 2009 until January 2010, Gemma met with patients and their doctors, talking to them about their lives and what they saw as important to their own identity. She first conducted an informal interview with each person, for about an hour. Psychiatrists were asked questions such as “What inspired you to become a psychiatrist?” “What are your interests outside of your job?” “What do you have in common with your patient?” Patients’ questions included “How is your experience as a patient?” “Can you tell me about your life before you where a patient?” “What would you like to do when you are out of hospital?” “How would you describe your relationship with your psychiatrist?” After a break, Gemma would draw the individual directly onto copper plate, afterwards asking them to imagine what kind of images and ideas they would like to see in the portrait.

This process, resulting in prints in which each person is surrounded by these images and ideas, aimed to move away from traditional written or verbal clinical encounters between patient and doctor towards building an image of the individual formed by what they choose to disclose. For example, “Dr F has a wonderful relationship with her patient (Patient C). Her patient attributes her full recovery to meeting Dr F. When I asked what they had in common she replied “So much! I have just been luckier in my life experiences.” She is a lover of nature and finds peace when walking or cycling in the countryside or by the sea. She loves elephants, wild animals and birds.”

The exhibition is open from 20th May – 18th June: Wed, Thurs, Friday, 11am – 6pm; and Saturday 5th June, 11am – 6pm
The Bethlem Gallery, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BX
Nearest British Rail: Eden Park / East Croydon

Portraits: Patients and Psychiatrists will be touring in 2010; the Freud Museum (July-August); the Globe Theatre (Sept-Oct); ACME Project Space (Nov-Dec).

Understanding Mental Health: Education at Bethlem Archives and Museum

We welcome visits from both primary and secondary schools and whenever possible take the opportunity to talk to teachers about what we can offer and what they feel would be most helpful. That’s why our Education officer was at Kingston University yesterday to speak to students on initial teacher training courses. Museums, archives and galleries can be important resouces for learning outside the classroom and we want to make our collection as accessible as possible.

Mental wellbeing is important to everyone but it can be a difficult subject to raise in the classroom. Yesterday’s session highlighted resources from the museum and archives which had been successfully used with primary aged pupils, encouraging them to discuss emotional wellbeing, identify potential stressful situations and develop coping strategies.

For more information on Education at the Archives and Museum, including booking a visit, go to our website.

Body Matters: a different perspective

So what does the museum’s part-time registrar do when she’s not at Bethlem? Answer – an MA in Museum Studies at UCL. A major part of the course is the development of an original and exciting exhibition.

Body Matters is an exhibition that approaches themes relating to health and well-being from a new perspective and in turn challenges some commonly held perceptions. This exhibition will offer a glimpse into the work of seven of UCL’s researchers who are all, in very different ways, advancing the knowledge of bones. Body Matters examines how subjects ranging from ancient tuberculosis to the future of prosthetics can have an impact on our lives and those around us.

After four months of hard work, late nights and deadlines our registrar is looking forward to it finally being finished and open to the public.

Body Matters is curated by Museum Studies students from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, and opens to the public on 17 May 2010.

For more information, click here.