NEHMS - Elwyn

Institutional Care and

Societal Changes:

The Effects of Elwyn

(The Pennsylvania Training School)

with Caitlin Angelone

Tuesday, August 11

7:00 – 8:00pm

via Zoom

Caitlin Angelone is currently the archivist at Elwyn and graduated with a MLIS from Drexel University. She has been a guest speaker on the history of Elwyn, medical ethics in historic research and archival processing, and access to sensitive collections for the American Library Association, West Chester University and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She co-curated the exhibit Imperfecta for the Mütter Museum, which explored the scientific and social history of Teratology from antiquity to present.

Elwyn, founded in 1852 as the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children, is the oldest organization still providing care for individuals with intellectual disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Started by Alfred Elwyn, a physician, and James B. Richards, an educator, these two men hoped to fill a growing gap in family’s ability to care for their children with disability as societal shifts expanded urbanization and individualism. Students with intellectual disabilities would be admitted to the training school, learn trades, how to support themselves and graduate to get jobs at the age of sixteen.

Increasing financial strain after the Civil War and the birth of the eugenics movement entered care models with Isaac Kerlin in 1864, shifting the goals of Elwyn with a focus on medical diagnosis and institutional care. This continued until 1960, when Gerald Clark believed individuals with disabilities were served better in communities and given proper family support once again shifting the organization to reflect their beginnings more closely. Join Elwyn archivist Caitlin Angelone as she examines the societal shifts that shaped the experiences of families, individuals, and the institution itself.