Mental health is not a typical theme for a museum, but exploring Glore Psychiatric Museum will give visitors an insight into the minds of those afflicted with mental illness. It was named after a former occupational therapist at St. Joseph State Hospital, George Glore. In 1968, he created the original displays along with the help of some of his patients.
Open in 1874, State Lunatic Asylum No. 2 was open as the second psychiatric hospital in the state.
Over 145 years of state history are on display at the museum along with medical devices from over the centuries, doctors' notes, and patient artwork. The museum is located in the medical and surgical unit of the former St. Joseph State Hospital.
Full-scale replicas of mental health devices from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are on display.
Visitors can learn about the history of early mental health treatments. Most equipment look like medieval torture devices that were used to calm and control patients.
Patient artwork is hung around the museum giving visitors a look into the minds of those afflicted with mental illness.
Art was a type of therapy for many at the asylum and a creative way to express themselves.
Straight-jackets were used to restrain patients who were in danger of harming themselves or others.
This is just one of over 10,000 psychiatric hospital items on exhibit here.
Rooms like this at the museum provide information about some of the surgeries performed in mental asylums.
Lobotomies were once widely performed on those suffering from severe mental illness. Now considered inhumane, they were once a widely accepted procedure.
Most patients at St. Joseph's State Hospital No. 2 lived in dormitories, with up to 200 people on each floor.
Some smaller private and semi-private rooms were available for one to four patients and were a better place for patients to rest than being placed in a dormitory.
Learn about Electro Convulsive Therapy, also known as "electroshock therapy."
This is just one of many other medical procedures used on mental illness throughout the years.
In 2014, the Glore Psychiatric Museum became part of St. Joseph Museums, Inc. which also oversees the Black Archives Museum, Doll Museum, and Native American and History Galleries, all housed in the St. Joseph Museum Complex. You can spend all day exploring what this building has to offer. However, Glore Psychiatric Museum is one-of-a-kind, dubbed "One of the 50 Most Unusual Museums in the Country." It is an eye-opening look at what has been done to mental health patients and how they were treated over the centuries. Both education and intriguing, a visit to the Glore will be one you will never forget!
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