One Century to the Next

Book excerpt: This book chronicles the development of the institutional model in Massachusetts with the well-intended beginnings, the decline and subsequent heroic reform. Massachusetts led the country and perhaps the world in the development of facilities intended to house the mentally ill and developmentally disabled during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The state schools constructed during the early 20th century in the United States were the direct result of the unfortunate science of eugenics, as society strived to create a race that was without flaw. After World War II, the eugenics fervour became moot and the myriads of people who were placed in state schools remained -- as society forgot about them. Sufficient funding was denied, and both employees and residents suffered the dire consequences of a society that no longer cared -- a society that wanted to forget. This is the history of a place, but more than that, it is a story about people. It is the story of great men who did wonderful things and of well-intentioned men who made egregious mistakes. It is the story of a heroic fight for reform. A study of the human condition, of atrocity juxtaposed against nobility -- a constant struggle. Unlike many other books on this topic, here there is a happy ending. Nobility triumphs. The tireless human spirit perseveres, and society is forced to listen to the cries of its institutionalised.