If you can't attend in person, watch the program live on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hR0xLvO6xFM.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed dramatic shifts in psychiatric care in the United States. Treatment evolved from segregating mentally ill persons with paupers and criminals, to placing them in rural retreats removed from the pressures of family and urban life, to keeping them in overcrowded facilities with little active treatment. These transitions played out locally in the Monroe County Almshouse, the Monroe County Insane Asylum, the Rochester State Hospital, and now the Rochester Psychiatric Center.

Join Dr. Laurence B. Guttmacher and Robert Riley as they discuss the innerworkings of these institutions and the lives of those who resided and worked within their walls. The talk is based on articles they authored for forthcoming issues of the Rochester History journal, “From Almshouse to County Asylum: Caring for the Mentally Ill in Rochester, 1826–1891” (co-authored with Dr. Peter Juviler) and “The History of the Rochester State Hospital, 1891–1975: A Case Study in the History of American Psychiatry,” (co-authored with Dr. Jacob Gordon).

Laurence B. Guttmacher, M.D., is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and former chair of the George Washington Corner Society for the History of Medicine. At various times he has directed resident and medical student education in psychiatry, been an Associate Dean in the medical school, and was, for many years, the Clinical Director of Rochester Psychiatric Center.

Robert Riley, M.P.H., is Assistant to the Executive Director of Rochester Psychiatric Center, where he has been responsible for the historical records of the Rochester Psychiatric Center and its predecessor the Rochester State Hospital for more than 30 years. He is an Adjunct Instructor in Medical Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Columbia University and a B.A. in History from St. John Fisher College.

This program also will be livestreamed: Rochester’s Rich History: From Almshouse to Psychiatric Center: Mental Health Care in Rochester. - YouTube