DANVERS
STATE HOSPITAL
KIRKBRIDE BUILDING |
This page is designed
to help individuals interested in learning more about the history of the
facility known as Danvers State Hospital.
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| Historical
Information: |
Hospital
Records: |
The
Commonwealth of Massachusetts established the Danvers State Hospital in
the 1870s as a multi-acre, self-contained mental health facility.
Over forty buildings were eventually contructed on the site, which encompassed
Hathorne Hill and surrounding property in the Hathorne section of Danvers.
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With
few exceptions, all records kept and generated by the Danvers State Hospital
were state property and few, except annual reports, were disseminated to
other than state agencies.
Many of these papers (including medical and case records not available to
the public due to privacy issues) should be on deposit at the State
Archives or Department of Mental
Health. |
 |
The
Kirkbride Complex consisted of 17 buildings erected between 1874-1878.
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| |
The
Bonner Building was constructed in 1955 for use as a medical facility.
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| |
Several
cottages, built between 1850 and 1932, existed on the property as well
as several maintenance, storage and farming structures.
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| LIBRARY MATERIALS: |
| Published material available on the hospital
is limited. No major published work relating to the architecture
of the building or the history of the facility has been produced. Various
local history books, however, have brief sketches relating to the hospital.
Several of these sources also include illustrations. Among these printed
resources owned by the Peabody Institute Library are: |
| Tapley,
Harriet S., |
Chronicles
of Danvers, p.192-193 |
| Zollo,
Richard P., et. al., |
As
the Century Turned, p.120-123 |
| Trask,
Richard B., |
Danvers
From 1850 to 1899, p.112-113 |
Publications concerning the Hospital's Redevelopment
and Re-Use are kept in Reference and do not circulate. These
are: |
 |
Danvers
State Hospital Re-Use Implementation Report, 1994 |
| |
Commonwealth
of Massachusetts Danvers State Hospital Redevelopment Opportunity,
Vols. 1 & 2, 2000 |
|
| The Library also maintains a pamphlet file
containing various newspaper clippings, etc. relating to some aspect of
the hospital. These may be viewed and copied but do not circulate. |
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DANVERS ARCHIVAL CENTER MATERIALS:
The books available within the Library's general circulating collections are
also within the collection of the Danvers Archival Center, though books
in the archival collection are not allowed to be photocopied.
|
Also available
in the Center's collections are several other sources including:
 |
Annual
Reports of the Trustees of the Danvers State Hospital, 1879-1940 |
| |
Several
pamphlets relating to the construction controversy of the Kirkbride
complex, 1875-1878 |
| |
A
typescript thesis by Marcia Cini titled, "The Hospital Palace at Danvers:
Its History and Architecture," 1981 |
| |
A
typescript thesis by Lucy Sanborn titled,"The History of the Danvers
State Hospital, 1878-1938" |
| |
A
three page "Historic Building Survey" of the Kirkbride Complex compiled by
Richard Trask (1991) |
Photos courtesy of John Alzapiedi, Massachusetts Film
Office - Thanks John!
Many
thanks to http://www.oldfashionedclipart.com for use of iron fence and
divider graphics
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