![\"Patients](\"http:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/images\/2008\/11\/28\/1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Note: Sadly, the photos linked to in this blog post are no longer online.<\/em><\/p>\n Google and LIFE Magazine recently arranged a deal whereby LIFE’s vast photo archive will be placed online<\/a>. You can find a portal to the collection here<\/a>. What I really want to draw your attention to though is a handful of images taken by photographer Herbert Gehr at a mental hospital in Worchester [sic], Massachusetts in 1949. One of these photos (reproduced above) leaves no doubt that they were indeed taken at Worcester State Hospital<\/a>. Anyone that’s been inside the Worcester Kirkbride will recognize the space in which three women create this somewhat surreal scene. 1) Patients Square Dancing<\/a> There will probably be images from other Kirkbride hospitals in the future as more of LIFE’s collection is made available. I’ll keep you posted if I come across any. In the meantime, if you want to see pictures from non-Kirkbride psych hospitals, try a search using terms like “mental hospital<\/a>” or “state hospital<\/a>” at the portal<\/a>. There are lots of old pictures from other institutions. If you’re really impressed with any of them, you can even purchase a framed print too. I have to say though that I don’t quite agree with selling photos clearly revealing a patient’s face (like this one<\/a> for example). It seems a bit dehumanizing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Note: Sadly, the photos linked to in this blog post are no longer online. Google and LIFE Magazine recently arranged a deal whereby LIFE’s vast photo archive will be placed online. You can find a portal to the collection here. What I really want to draw your attention to though is a handful of images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13,32],"tags":[280,29],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-pictures","category-web-sites","tag-pictures","tag-worcester-state-hospital"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Common](\"http:\/\/www.kirkbridebuildings.com\/blog\/images\/2008\/11\/28\/2.jpg\")
\nI don’t think all the photos in this collection were taken inside the Kirkbride, but I believe most of them were. They’re really a pretty fascinating group of images too\u2014some are slightly bizarre<\/a>, some are disturbing<\/a>, and others are hauntingly beautiful<\/a>. It’s weird to see that the basement almost looked creepier in use<\/a> than it did after it was abandoned. Below are links to all the pictures. (Note that you can view a larger version of each image by clicking the “View full size” link on the image page.)<\/p>\n
\n2) Doctors & Researchers<\/a>
\n3) Patient Lifting a Table<\/a>
\n4) Electric Shock Treatment<\/a>
\n5) Patient on Scales<\/a>
\n6) Insulin Shock Therapy I<\/a>
\n7) Insulin Shock Therapy II<\/a>
\n8) Insulin Shock Therapy III<\/a>
\n9) Insulin Shock Therapy IV<\/a>
\n9) Patient Receiving Treatment<\/a>
\n10) Sweat Study<\/a>
\n11) Hormone Treatment<\/a>
\n12) Spinning Treatment<\/a>
\n13) Research Equipment<\/a>
\n14) Breaking Down Sugars<\/a>
\n15) Woman Alone in a Room<\/a><\/p>\n