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Contributor
Tate Archives & Special Collections
Contributor Institution
Illinois Wesleyan University
Creation Date
1941
Document Type
Handbook
Description
This document is the Peoria State Hospital School of Psychiatric Nursing: Ward Manual. The owner; Evelyn Cornelius Lantz '41, was a nursing student with Illinois Wesleyan's partner at the time Brokaw Hospital. Assigned to the recently built State Hospital in Peoria for clinicals, Lantz used this manual to take notes on her patients, marking the best types of care for each mental affliction.
Primary Source Analysis
This is the Peoria State Hospital School of Psychiatric Nursing: Ward Manual, which was owned by Evelyn Cornelius Lantz ‘41; a nursing student at Illinois Wesleyan University. As the university had a working relationship with Brokaw Hospital at the time, they aided in nurse training and clinical rotations. They assigned Lantz to the Peoria State Hospital. Established in the early 20th century, Peoria State Hospital was once a model for mental health care hospitals, particularly under the direction of Dr. George Zeller, who was committed to treating psychiatric patients with more humanity. This ward manual was an essential tool for Lantz, providing standardized procedures for patient care and details on the most effective treatments for different mental illnesses.
During the 1940s, America was slowly but deeply reforming its mental health treatment. While there were many psychiatric institutions still overcrowded and using traditional methods, pressure mounted for better conditions for patients. Peoria State Hospital was exceptional in its progressive thinking, emphasizing humane treatment above the punitive approach still common in other asylums. Students like Lantz were at the center of implementing these new philosophies of care. Her notes, written throughout the entirety of her manual, record a shift toward more individualized and medically oriented approaches to treating mental illness. Far from warehousing individuals with psychiatric illness, institutions like Peoria State Hospital began to introduce genuine therapies, setting the stage for psychiatric reforms to come. The preservation of artifacts like this help us understand exactly how harmful treatments can reform to proper care and cure.
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For rights information, contact Tate Archives & Special Collections at archives@iwu.edu.
Source
School of Nursing - Peoria State Hospital School of Nursing: Ward Manual - Evelyn Cornelius class of ‘41 - 7-5/4/9