Care of the feeble-minded / Walter E. Fernald.

  • Fernald, Walter E., 1859-1924.
Date:
[1904?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Care of the feeble-minded / Walter E. Fernald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tal school for idiots. A suitable building, near Albany, was rented and the school opened in October, 1851. The trustees selected for superintendent Dr. H. B. Wilbur, who had so successfully organized and conducted the private school at Barre, Mass., for more than three years previously. In the first annual report of the trustees, published in 1851, the aims and purposes of the proposed school were summed up as follows : — We do not propose to create or supply faculties absolutely want¬ ing ; nor to bring all grades of idiocy to the same standard of development or discipline ; nor to make them all capable of sustain¬ ing creditably all the relations of a social and moral life; but rather to give to dormant faculties the greatest possible development, and to apply these awakened faculties to a useful purpose under the con¬ trol of an aroused and disciplined will. At the base of all our efforts lies the principle that, as a rule, none of the faculties are absolutely wanting, but dormant, undeveloped, and imperfect. This school attracted much attention from educators and others, and was frequently and critically inspected by the members of the legislature and other State officials. On the nth of April, 1853, the legislature authorized the erection of new buildings. The citi¬ zens of Syracuse donated the land, and the corner-stone of the first structure in this country built expressly for the purpose of caring for and training idiots was laid Sept. 8, 1854. The school at Syracuse continued under Dr. Wilbur’s direction until his death in 1883. In this school the physiological method of education has been most thoroughly and scientifically carried out, and a high de¬ gree of success attained. Pennsylvania was the third State to take up the work. In the winter of 1852 a private school for idiots was opened in German¬ town, by Mr. J. B. Richards, the first teacher in the school at South Boston. This school was incorporated April 7, 1853, as the Penn¬ sylvania Training School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Children. The first money received for its support was raised by private sub¬ scription, and the State contributed an equal sum. In 1855 the present site at Elwyn was secured, and the foundations laid for the present magnificent institution village with nearly a thousand in¬ mates. The Ohio Institution at Columbus was established April 17, 1857, and pupils were received the same year. The State of Ohio has