Francis T. Stribling correspondence

Abstract: Most of this sub-collection consists of originals and copies, as well as typed transcripts, of handwritten letters sent to Dr. Francis T. Stribling in his capacity as director of the Western Lunatic Asylum in Staunton, Virginia. A few of the letters are from county sheriffs and other local officials who confined lunatics in their jails and wanted to send them to the asylum; most of the letters are from family members of individuals who were, should have been, or had been, in the asylum. The family members typically wrote requesting for information about the patient, providing payment for the patient's stay, asking advice, making arrangements for a patient who had died, or discussing a patient who had escaped the asylum. Some of the letters provide information about symptoms. Correspondents are mostly sisters or brothers, husbands or wives, children, or sometimes friends of the patient.

Also with these letters are a handful of unrelated letters and business documents from the same era. Most of these other letters regard shipping and cargo information (one regards property taxes in Ohio) but do not appear to relate to each other.

Summary: These handwritten letters were written to Dr. Francis T. Stribling in his capacity as director of the Western Lunatic Asylum in Staunton, Virginia. A few of the letters are from county sheriffs and other local officials who have confined lunatics in their jails and want to send them to the asylum; most of the letters are from family members of individuals who are, should be, or have been in the asylum. The family members typically write requesting information about the patient, providing payment for the patient's stay, asking advice, making arrangements for a patient who has died, or discussing a patient who has escaped the asylum. Some of the letters provide information about symptoms. This correspondence is part of the historic psychiatry material in the Menninger Archives. A searchable, full-text transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Biog. Sketch (Full): Francis Taliaferro Stribling, born in 1810 in Virginia, was quite young when he took over as the first director of Virginia's Western State Hospital for the insane. Founded as Western Lunatic Asylum in 1825 and opened to patients in 1828, Dr. Stribling began working there in 1836 or 1840 and remained the institution's director until his death in 1874, on 23 July.

Stribling had been the first graduate of the University of Virginia Medical School in 1830. A disciple of the "moral medicine" movement, he was a close friend of Dorothea Dix. He was also one of the founding members of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane in 1844, which eventually became the American Psychiatric Association.