|
CAIN No. 210165
|
|
TITLE:
Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital fonds
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
ca. 63 cm textual records
181 photographs
2 v.
8 architectural drawings
4 maps
DATES:
[189-?]-2004
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
In May 1978, L.W. McKerrow, hospital
Administrator, described the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital
as taking "a primarily generalist psychiatric hospital
approach, providing the full range of therapeutic and
domiciliary care to all longer term psychiatric patients and
the more difficult short term population." (McKerrow, p. 1).
This statement neatly summarizes the hospital's approach to
the provision of mental health services across the years,
the evolution of which has been characterized as "concise,
coherent and linear, clearly the product of a closely knit
team that shared a common vision." (Keefer, 2004).The
history of this institution begins on January 20, 1890, when
the Mimico Branch Asylum, as it was then known, opened its
doors to 116 patients from Toronto. Established to house
"the chronic insane" from across the province, the Asylum
was situated on 60 acres of land to the west of Toronto,
just outside of the village of Mimico on the shore of Lake
Ontario. The Mimico site was chosen both for its centrality
to other provincial asylums and for its healthy, tranquil
rural location. It also included the 125 acre North Farm
situated near the main hospital grounds, and after 1903, the
adjacent McNeill Farm of approximately 73 acres.As its name
suggests, the Asylum was initially established as a branch
of the Asylum for the Insane, Toronto (as then known)
located at 999 Queen Street West. By 1894, however, the
province concluded that it was not economically viable for a
single site to assume responsibility for the province's
entire population of chronic patients. Consequently, Mimico
was made an independent institution with its own territorial
catchment area and renamed the Mimico Asylum. Mimico's
catchment area comprised the counties of Peel, Simcoe,
Ontario, Victoria, and Peterborough, and the districts of
Muskoka, Parry Sound, Nippissing, Algoma, Thunder Bay, and
Rainy River.Like all other provincial asylums, the Mimico
Asylum was administered by the Office of the Inspector of
Prisons and Charities, which was a part of the Department of
the Provincial Secretary. After 1930, however,
responsibility for these institutions was transferred to the
provincial Department of Health. Overseen by a variety of
branches and divisions within the Department's jurisdiction,
the hospital continued to operate under its auspices until
Health Minister Dennis Timbrell made the decision to close
the facility effective September 1, 1979. Motivated by
budget considerations and the shift towards out-patient,
community-based programs, LPH in-patients were transferred
to other psychiatric hospitals in Hamilton, Toronto, and
Whitby, and LPH services were partially amalgamated with
those of the Queen Street Mental Health Centre (QSMHC). Some
of those programs, such as the Daycare Assessment
Rehabilitation and Education (DARE) program, continue to
this day.Over its 89-year history, LPH was headed by seven
Medical Superintendents: Dr. John B. Murphy (1890-1894), Dr.
Nelson Henry Beemer (1894-1928), Dr. Fulton Schuyler Vrooman
(1928-1929), Dr. Hugh Alexander McKay (1930-1936), Dr.
Thomas Daly Cumberland (1936-1959), Dr. Herbert Clayton
Moorhouse (1959-1967), and Dr. Donald Ross Gunn (1967-1972).
With the departure of Dr. Gunn, the era of the Medical
Superintendent came to an end as the Ministry of Health made
the decision to appoint non-medical administrators. R.C.
Hansen (1972-4) was the first to hold this title, and he was
succeeded by Frank F. Morin (1974-1975), L.Wayne McKerrow
(1975- 1978), and Joe McMullen (1978-1979).The Mimico Asylum
experienced various name changes during its lifetime, a
reflection of changing attitudes toward mental health. The
name "Mimico Asylum" was in use until 1907, at which time
the provincial government legislated the use of the term
"Hospital" to replace "Asylum", a change that was seen to
embody a fundamental shift in the approach to care. As Dr.
C.K. Clarke, a proponent of the change, wrote, "the basis of
our teaching is the hospital idea - that is, the patients
are regarded as sick people and are treated as such"
(Bruce-Smith, 1906, p. 23). Consequently, the Mimico Asylum
became the Hospital for the Insane, Mimico. In 1919, all
psychiatric hospitals operated by the Ontario government
were again renamed. Thus the Provincial Hospital for the
Insane became the Ontario Hospital, Mimico, and later the
Ontario Hospital, New Toronto. On May 20, 1965 the Ontario
Hospital became the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital (LPH) by
Order-in-Council 1763/65.
SCOPE AND CONTENT:
The fonds consists of textual records, photographs, and
architectural drawings, predominantly from the 1960s and
1970s, that relate to various aspects of the operation of
the hospital and the work of its staff and volunteers.
Textual records include staff newsletters, reports,
memoranda, correspondence, published professional
literature, newspaper clippings, and hospital by-laws,
policies, and regulations.Fonds is comprised of the
following series: Printed and published material Staff
Lakeshore site proposals, studies, and exhibits Dr. Donald
Gunn History and development
REPOSITORY:
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Archives
RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS:
Some access restrictions apply, including applicable records
subject to The Personal Health Information Protection Act,
2004 (PHIPA).
FINDING AID AVAILABLE:
Detailed finding aid available; file and some item level
control.
CUSTODIAL HISTORY:
The volunteer-based theme archives known as the Archives for
the History of Canadian Psychiatry and Mental Health
Services (AHCPMHS) was established in 1982 at Queen Street
Mental Health Centre (QSMHC, one of the CAMH Archives' four
predecessor facilities). Subsequently the holdings relating
to Queen Street and Mimico/Lakeshore were transferred to the
AHCPMHS by the respective QSMHC operational/administrative
offices responsible for the records. The AHCPMHS was
incorporated in toto within the CAMH Archives upon its
establishment in 2000, and the records remained physically
located in the CAMH Archives' storage facilities at the
Queen Street site. The CAMH Archives processed the fonds
described here for conservation, arrangement, and
description in 2004.
ASSOCIATED MATERIALS:
The Archives of Ontario retains accessions from the
Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital because of its status as a
provincial hospital prior to its closure. These records can
be found in the following series: RG 8, Department of
Provincial Secretary; RG 10, Ministry of Health; RG 29,
Ministry of Community and Social Services; and RG 63,
Inspector of Asylums, Prisons, and Public Charities.
RELATED MATERIALS:
Other records relating to the public reaction to the closure
of the hospital can be found in the Newspaper clippings file
of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Queen Street
site fonds (box 25-16); other administrative records of the
Lakeshore Volunteer Association, which was absorbed by the
QSMHC Association of Volunteers in 1987, are located in the
Association's Lakeshore volunteers file in the same fonds
(box 13-16).
ACCRUALS:
Further accruals possible.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Title is based on the content of the fonds.
References:
Bruce-Smith, R.W. (1906). Training schools for asylum nurses
in Ontario. The Canadian Nurse, 2(4).
Keefer, A. (2004). Excerpt of Market Gallery exhibition
didactics re Lakeshore.
McKerrow, L.W. (May 1978). Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital
submission to: Committee on Mental Health Services.
OPSEU. (1979). The closing of Lakeshore Psychiatric
Hospital: the case for reconsideration.
PROVENANCE:
Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital
Mimico Branch Asylum
Hospital for the Insane, Mimico
Ontario Hospital, Mimico
Ontario Hospital, New Toronto
|
