Fairmont Hospital Employees' Scrapbook
An inventory of the item at Syracuse University
Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 6 Mar 2023
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Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 6 Mar 2023
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Overview of the Collection |
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| Title: | Fairmont Hospital Employees' Scrapbook |
| Dates: | 1970s |
| Quantity: | 1 volume (SC) |
| Abstract: | Informal scrapbook created by a group of employees at a psychiatric hospital, sharing dark humor and self-mockery as well as advice and encouragement. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
According to the National Library of Medicine, "the 1970s was a decade of increasing refinement and specificity of existing treatments [for mental illness]. There was increasing focus on the negative effects of various treatments, such as deinstitutionalization, and a stronger scientific basis for some treatments emerged.... In psychotherapy there was a change toward more eclectic and pragmatic approaches, as evidenced by the combining of behavioral and dynamic techniques and an increased use of short-term psychotherapies..."
Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, California is part of the Alameda Health System (AHS), formerly Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC). Fairmont Hospital emerged in the 1920s as the first public rehabilitation facility in the Western United States.
The Fairmont Hospital Employees' Scrapbook consists of a single volume with multiple unidentified contributors. The contents include handwritten entries, clippings, photographs, ephemera, etc. The volume was clearly informal and unofficial in nature (on the cover is written "LOOSE LOG" and "BOO HISS"). Taken together, the volume provides unusual insight into the daily life, attitudes, and concerns of psychiatric hospital staff.
One volume.
Access Restrictions:
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Use Restrictions:
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Corporate Bodies
Fairmont Hospital (San Leandro, Ca.)
Subjects
Black humor.
Psychiatric hospitals -- Employees.
Psychiatric nursing.
Places
California.
Genres and Forms
Clippings (information artifacts)
Scrapbooks.
Occupations
Psychiatric nurses.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Fairmont Hospital Employees' Scrapbook,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 2023.
Memorabilia
| Memorabilia | |||||||||||
| SC 886 | "Mother Fletcher's Cumulative Compendium of Pathographia, alias Loose Log" 1970s | ||||||||||
| One volume with multiple unidentified contributors. The first page contains a "Dedication, Scope, and Purpose" statement, inviting anyone who wishes to participate, and stating that "Creativity, looseness, and any other symptoms of 309.91 and.or 309.92 are encouraged." This is likely a joking reference to the edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual then in use (DSM-II, 1968); 309 is "non-psychotic organic brain syndrome with other unspecified physical conditions," both chronic and acute. The contents include homilies, sayings, and quotes (both positive and negative); clippings of headlines, cartoons, and phrases; bits of gossip and collegial teasing; self-mockery (e.g. of their own mental health); and so on. Taken together, the volume provides unusual insight into the daily life, attitudes, and concerns of psychiatric hospital staff in 1970s California. | |||||||||||