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Description
Asylum on the Prairie is a short history zine that examines the rise, abuse, and eventual reform of the Jamestown State Hospital, revealing the contradictions at the heart of early American asylums--institutions founded on care but shaped by neglect and stigma. Tracing the hospital from its 1885 opening through the 1937 scandal and later deinstitutionalization, it highlights how systemic failures persisted until public outrage forced change. Ultimately, the zine reflects on Jamestown as a cautionary example of how vulnerable populations can be failed without accountability and humane oversight.
Publication Date
2-6-2026
Keywords
North Dakota, history, asylum, mental health, reform, abuse, institutions
Disciplines
United States History
Recommended Citation
Smith, Christain, "Asylum on the Prairie" (2026). History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine. 16.
https://commons.und.edu/history-hawks/16
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.