Climate of Health: Nineteenth-Century Conceptions of Insanity and the Connection to Colorado's Environment

Summary

This is an abstract from the "*In the Shadow of the Rockies: Historical Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Archaeology in Colorado" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Nineteenth-century Coloradans had many beliefs about the ways that their environment influenced their health, both physical and mental. Most well-known, those suffering from tuberculosis came to Colorado seeking a cure via the clean, dry air. Less well-known is the connection between Colorado’s climate and nineteenth-century conceptions of insanity. For some, institutionalization in the Colorado State Hospital is directly linked to their environments, such as those who have “exposure” listed as their “cause of insanity” in the admissions record. For others, the connection is less obvious, such as the environmental contamination that resulted in “lead poisoning” as a cause of insanity or those with nervous complaints suffering from bouts of melancholia and anxiety attributed to Colorado’s high altitude. This paper explores the many ways that Colorado’s environment influenced health. The Colorado State Hospital admissions record from 1879 to 1899 is explored and contextualized with other historical documents and with skeletal analysis of those individuals who were buried on the institution grounds. This paper does not contain images of skeletal remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• *In the Shadow of the Rockies: Historical Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Archaeology in Colorado   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51940