Care and Custody: Past Responses to Mental Health
The traveling banner exhibition and companion website explore the treatment of people with mental health conditions throughout history, especially in the United States, bringing to light the tension that has existed between care and custody.
Juneau, Alaska
Date of Press Release: February 12, 2024
UAS Egan Library to Host Exhibit Exploring Historic Responses to Mental Health
Exhibit runs Feb 12 – Mar 23
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) produced Care and Custody: Past Responses to Mental Health, guest curated by public historian and educator Anne E. Parsons, PhD (University of North Carolina at Greensboro).
The traveling banner exhibition and companion website explore the treatment of people with mental health conditions throughout history, especially in the United States, bringing to light the tension that has existed between care and custody. Physicians, advocates, families, and government agencies have all contributed to the shaping of mental health policies. Care and Custody examines this history to understand how the country has moved away from custodial forms of treatment, toward more inclusive approaches, and worked to protect the rights of people with mental health conditions. The exhibit is open to the public at the UAS Egan Library during regular hours (M-Th 9:00 AM-9:00 PM, Sa 12:00-5:00 PM, Su 1:00-7:00 PM. Limited hours the week of UAS Spring Break Mar 11-15 ).
Care and Custody includes an education component featuring a new university module and a digital gallery that further explores selected works from the historical collections of the NLM, which are also available in their entirety in NLM Digital Collections.
The exhibit continues ongoing conversations about disability visibility as part of the One Campus, One Book initiative at UAS. This year, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong has students, staff and faculty engaging in discussion about inclusion, accessibility, ableism, disability representation and amplifying disabled narratives.