Author Archives: BoamtiT14

What’s Your Platform?

A Pile of Unsolicited Manuscripts Taken by Editor Kate Sullivan

Some people may write as a hobby, but those I will term “authors” write because they enjoy it AND because they want others to read and enjoy their work. Publishing is not the uphill battle it used to be, since so many good venues for self-publication are available for authors with specialty topics or works that aren’t accepted at traditional publishing houses. –And believe me, non-acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean poor work! Traditional publishers might have 50 – 150 slots for new books each year, yet receive 5,000 manuscripts. To gain an acceptance anywhere is like winning the lottery!

For nonfiction authors in particular, publishers will ask: “What is your platform?” What in the world does that mean? Publishers are simply asking authors what sort of built-in audience they might have access to. For instance, someone who regularly lectures or speaks in public will already have a name in his or her particular specialty. If the person writes a book on the topic, that author has an established audience familiar with his/her name. Publishers love this!

It pays, of course, to establish your platform before you approach publishers. It is so discouraging to send in your proposal only to hear that question over and over–and to know that you don’t have that built-in audience they want. What can you do, then?

One easy first step is to create a website and write a blog. Work on your blog and write the actual book at the same time–you’ll be in the right place mentally and creatively to make the most of your research. Even if you don’t reach a huge audience, over time you will accumulate material that you may be able to use for an ebook that doesn’t cost much (if anything) to publish. The material shouldn’t be anything you plan to cover in your proposed book, just information you couldn’t include or which goes off on interesting tangents that are related but not usable for your purposes.

The Incurable Insane

Chapin House at Willard Asylum for the Chronically Insane

Alienists believed that early intervention in recent cases of insanity led to high cure rates–at least 40% and perhaps higher. However, patients who did not receive treatment until their cases were advanced or of long standing, were much less likely to recover. (See last post.) These latter were exactly the kind of patients that most families eventually wanted to turn over to asylums, and superintendents were eventually faced with the dilemma of how to use their limited resources most effectively.

Some of those who were interested in this growing problem suggested that special asylums just for the incurably insane be built. Caretaking for such individuals would be cheaper than including them in an establishment that were designed for more acute cases, and wouldn’t drain the staff manpower away from patients who stood a better chance of being cured. Though asylum superintendents didn’t like to spend their resources on the incurably insane, some of them were quite vocal about not building asylums just for these patients.

An article in the American Journal of Insanity (1844) made one superintendent’s position very plain:

— No one can predict which patients might be cured; of the people in that particular asylum, fully one-third couldn’t really be placed into one category or the other.

— Many incurables were simply “monomaniacs” (deranged only on one or two subjects) and sane on all others. Why should they be denied the comforts and amenities given to those who are hopeful of being cured?

— It would be impossible to make sure incurables weren’t abused or neglected. The author of the article said in particular: “In all Asylums, the fact that some are well and soon to leave the Asylum is the greatest safeguard against abuse.”

— If asylums for incurables didn’t have proper staffs of doctors and other appropriate caretakers, how would they be any better than poorhouses?

Others pointed out that to send someone to an asylum for incurables would destroy the individual’s last shred of hope and might well cause him or her to never be cured.

Cures and Controversy

Insane Asylums Could Be Beautiful, Architecturally

Though it took years to make asylum care acceptable to the mainstream public, ordinary citizens did eventually begin to believe in the professionalism and experience provided by these institutions. After that, they began using asylums in increasing numbers. Asylums definitely relieved family members from the anxiety of caring for mentally ill loved ones, and took the drudgery and constant attendance that some patients required off family caretakers’ shoulders. Eventually insane asylums became popular enough to become overcrowded, and the question of how to manage “incurable” patients arose.

Many alienists believed that if they could intervene in a case of insanity soon after it manifested (an acute case), they stood a good chance of curing it. However, when families kept mentally ill members at home until they ran out of time, money, or the physical ability to continue providing care, the situation was less hopeful. These long-standing cases, alienists feared, were incurable.

What should be done with such patients? Superintendents hated to divert money and time from their more acute (and therefore curable) patients to the chronically insane who were nearly impossible to cure. Yet, these long-term patients still needed care. The idea of special asylums for “incurables” soon came up for consideration. My next post will discuss the position that many in the profession took toward asylums for the incurably insane.

Considered With Care

County Asylum for the Insane, Appleton, Wisconsin

When asylums first became accepted in the U.S., all aspects of their construction came under review. Experts looked for designs that gave good ventilation, access to sunlight, and provided safety. They also considered the asylum’s location very important. Alienists–men trained in mental health care–were convinced that city living contributed to the rise of insanity in the population. They believed that siting an asylum in the calm, restful countryside would help patients get well. It was important, then, that windows in bedrooms or sitting rooms look out on lovely, peaceful views.

Though it’s true that some patients came to asylums simply because it was convenient for their families, many other patients truly needed help of some kind. For women who were distraught or overwhelmed with the care of eight to ten children and all the physical work that fell to housewives in that day, a stay in a country setting might be very beneficial. Patients who were mildly depressed (melancholy) were often helped by a change of scenery and some of the light occupation an asylum offered. Others who had become stressed to the point of mental breakdown by the cares of business or family could get away from the source of their turmoil.

Asylum superintendents came to feel strongly that proper architecture and a small patient population would allow doctors to provide the kind of individual care that would help patients most. Sadly, asylums just got bigger and bigger, and the personal touch began to fade. Asylums turned into warehouses rather than “hospitals for the mind.”

No End to the Sentence

Elizabeth Packard Being Taken to an Asylum Against Her Will, courtesy National Library of Medicine

After researching insane asylums for many years, I’ve come to the conclusion that they have been–and still are–a necessary evil. I went into this topic simply fascinated by the history of asylums and how they came to be. (This is also the subject of the book I’m currently writing.) I could see how humane they were in comparison to what had come before. Patients who had previously been locked in unheated outhouses, basements, or thrown into jail–often without adequate food or clothing–could now rest in rooms that were warm and clean. Prior to the 1830s, life was dismal indeed for anyone considered insane.

But the reality of life in an asylum is terrible to consider. Imagine going for a carriage ride with a spouse or friends to take tea with a new acquaintance, only to find that you have arrived at an insane asylum and are going to be kept there. Or, imagine appearing before a judge to explain or justify some sort of irrational behavior (and who hasn’t acted irrationally at some point?) only to be judged insane and “sentenced” to an insane asylum. The scariest part of either scenario was the open-endedness of the sentence. If that same person had committed a crime, he or she would spend a definite amount of time in jail and then get out. Not so with the insane patient . . . his or her fate depended upon the discretion/personality/judgment of the asylum’s superintendent!

The Search is On

Eugenics Record Office, Archives Room at Cold Spring Harbor

I love to do research from the comfort of my home, but there is way too much data out there for it all to be digitized–or at least, yet! Sometimes I have to go somewhere to look at physical records, and that can be both a pain and a pleasure. Going to an archive or agency that holds historical information I need will mean a trip (and the extra time that takes) at the very least. Hopefully the information resides in a location I actually want to visit or where I have friends who might be able to put me up while I’m there. With great locations, I can sometimes tack on a day or two and make the trip a mini-getaway.

But, unless the facility is really close by, I have to figure on paying for gas, food, parking, and a hotel for however long I need to be there. Then there will be copying fees and perhaps entry fees if I’m going to a place where there are tours or collections for the public to view. Gathering information can be expensive–researchers always need to consider the costs when they decide what to write about. There may be great subjects, and even great information available. But, can you get to it at a price you can afford?

Where to Start

Early South Dakota Homesteaders, courtesy State Archives of the South Dakota State Historical Society

One of the difficulties of writing history is knowing where to find the relevant information. When I began writing about the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, there wasn’t much out there about it–not in books or on the internet. My first real clue in the search was the mention of something called the “Silk Report,” which was the summary of an investigation made into the asylum in 1929. I knew it was something I needed to get.

Sometimes the best place to start is the most obvious place. Since this asylum had been in Canton, South Dakota, I figured the state’s archives would have at least some information about it. The State Archives of the South Dakota State Historical Society is the actual entity which reviews and preserves historical material for the state, and so I contacted them to ask about the Silk Report. They sent it to me for a nominal copying fee, and from there I was hooked. The report was full of information and description, and I knew right away that I had a story worth telling.

Birth of a Book

Front-View-of-Canton-Asylum-courtesy-National-Institutes-of-Health

The Front View of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton, South Dakota, U.S.

A new book is exciting, even after you’ve read your manuscript a hundred times, proofed it over and over, and scrutinized it for errors and typos until you feel you could recite entire chapters in your sleep! Vanished in Hiawatha: The Story of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was published June 1, 2016, after literally years of research and writing.

In 2008 I was in writing limbo–I had finished a short biography for teens and wasn’t sure about my next topic. I knew I wanted to write historical material, but what? I began toying with the idea of a young adult novel that involved insane asylums . . . perhaps the main character’s father had been sent to one so his evil relatives could gain control of his fortune . . . perhaps the main character would be sent to one . . . the possibilities were intriguing. For some reason, I had associated insane asylums with England, but my beginning research showed that they had also been well-represented in the United States. Just as I began to get excited about fictional situations, I ran across a reference to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.

What!? An asylum just for Indians? Could this be real? I almost thought it wasn’t, until I dug around enough to understand that this institution had really existed. After that, I couldn’t get the place out of my mind and I began to put out feelers for additional information. Soon, I was digging deeper and starting to shape a book that would keep me interested and amazed for the next eight years.