On October 24, 1918, fifty-eight-year-old Elizabeth was admitted to the City of London Mental Hospital by her husband.1 He stated […]
What Would Philippe Pinel Do? Old and New Understandings of Mental Illness
I was intrigued when, on February 1, 2018, I heard the journalist and author Johann Hari on Democracy Now! talking […]
The Devastation of Peace: Otilia Noeckel and the Army Nurse Corps after the Great War
“I just adore the work I am doing right now. I am on a dressing team with another nurse and […]
Explicit: Censorship, Sexology, and Sexuality in Independent Ireland
When the Irish Free State created the Censorship of Publications Board in 1929, they were arguably asserting their independence.1 By […]
“Instruction which she should avoid”: Reflections on 1830s Theater Manager Thomas Hamblin in the #MeToo Era
In June 1838, actress Josephine Clifton canceled an engagement in Lexington, KY and rushed back to New York “in a […]
“There Had Been No Penetration:” Male Surgeons’ Roles in Defining Rape in Eighteenth-Century England
In July of 1715, when Mary Marsh was asked about the details of her rape, she claimed that “the Prisoner […]
Take a Hay Ride: Remembering Louise Hay
On August 30, 2017, Louise Hay died. Hay was a metaphysical healer who began her journey in healing at the […]
“Bought some souvenirs as usual and a cheese:” Nurses’ Lives Outside the Hospital in the First World War
A great deal has been written about soldiers’ experiences behind the lines during the First World War and the relationships […]
Women, Prayer, and Household Authority in Irish History
Traveling through Ireland in 1909, writer Robert Lynd described “a strange crying—almost a lamentation” that one might hear “on some […]
History at Home in the Tenement Museum
Several times a day, several days a week, I stand with a group of strangers in the parlor of a […]
