A Place to Heal: Archaeology at St. Elizabeths Hospital

Summary

Established in 1852 as the Government Hospital for the Insane, St. Elizabeths is situated on a bluff overlooking the historic City of Washington. Charles Nichols, the first superintendent, sought to provide a therapeutic setting in a picturesque environment for mentally ill patients to recover. Originally located outside the main core of the city, the campus has witnessed massive changes over its 150 years of operation. These changes often coincided with innovative new treatment practices for the mentally ill but were not always noted in the historic record, despite annual reports to Congress and extensive map and photographic documentation. Using GIS in conjunction with targeted archaeological investigations, we georeferenced key historic maps and conducted elevation and viewshed analyses to document and confirm many of these changes to the landscape and character of the campus over its lifetime. This paper will explore some of the conclusions we have reached and address the pitfalls of exclusively relying on documentary evidence when evaluating and investigating historical sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20935