“A State of Conscious and Permanent Visibility”: Sight as an Instrument of Cure and Control at the Worcester State Hospital for the Insane, 1833–1900

Abstract

The nineteenth-century lunatic hospital was intended to function as a curative instrument, targeting the mind through the senses. This paper compares the way in which visibility was mobilized in the design of the asylum, drawing upon ideals of nature and domesticity, against its imperfect realization in practice, with a focus on the lived experiences of patients.

Material Cultures of Psychiatry

“…Historical archaeology and the archaeology of institutions have made an important contribution to the research by focusing on the material conditions of institutional life (Hamlett 2015;Beisaw/Gibb 2009;Piddock 2007). Not only built space was studied, but sensory phenomena such as sound and sight and their material effects have also been explored, pointing to the relationship between material culture and sensory perception (Kearin 2019(Kearin , 2020Fennelly 2014;MacKinnon 2003).…”