Isaac Ray MD Papers, 1841 - 1989

Summary

Creator:
Ray, Isaac, 1807-1881
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of Isaac Ray, who is known for his role in the development of the field of psychiatry and the law. The collection has 4 series: Correspondence, Lectures, Publications and Writings, and Phillips’ Will Contest.
Extent:
4 boxes 1.67 linear feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the papers of Isaac Ray, who is known for his role in the development of the field of psychiatry and the law. There are 4 series in this collection.

Correspondence: These materials are primarily photocopies and typed transcripts. There appear to be transcripts for nearly every day for which the collection houses photocopies. Correspondence was exchanged between Ray’s colleagues and deals with professional matters involving hospitals, the insane, and opinions of the law. Ray also discussed personal and familial matters. Some of Ray’s frequent correspondents include: Judge Charles Doe of New Hampshire, with whom Ray exchanged ideas about laws of insanity; Dorothea L. Dix, a non-physician who helped to establish hospitals for the insane by exposing conditions in almshouses, jails and private homes where patients were confined; Pliny Earle, psychiatrist at the Northampton Lunatic Hospital, Massachusetts; Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, a physician and advocate for the mentally ill who was involved in the construction, organization and general arrangements of mental hospitals; and Dr. John Sawyer, assistant physician at Butler Hospital during Isaac Ray’s tenure, who became superintendent after Ray’s retirement.

Lectures: These documents include typescripts of lectures on insanity delivered by Ray at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He discussed moral insanity, mental inequalities, the legal consequences of epilepsy, the treatment of insanity, insanity among seduced or deserted women, and other topics. Also included are notes concerning the testimony of Sam Adams, which were not written by Isaac Ray.

Publications and Writings: this series has publications and writings by and about Isaac Ray.

Phillips’ Will Contest: This series has papers relating to a wealthy man, D. W. Phillips of Lebanon, Kentucky, who became paralyzed after making his will. Several years later a “quack” doctor advised him to change his will. The series consists of legal documents involving Ray who testified that Phillips was of unsound mind when making the second will.

Biographical / historical:

Isaac Ray was born on January 16, 1807 in Beverly, Massachusetts and received his medical degree at the age of twenty from the Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College. Ray was superintendent of the Maine Insane Hospital in Augusta, Maine and of the Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. He retired from Butler Hospital in 1867 and moved to Philadelphia, where he became a controversial figure in social and hospital reform and helped to found the Philadelphia Social Science Association. He was a pre-eminent nineteenth century American psychiatrist, outstanding for his role in the development of the field of psychiatry and the law. Ray insisted on protection and justice for the insane (from whom all legal civil prerogatives had been removed) while at the same time acknowledging society’s right to protect itself against persons whose behavior may cause harm.

In A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, published in 1838, Ray called for reform of the criminal justice laws and for reform of the incompetency and commitment laws. In his discussion of the relative and different incompetencies of the mentally delayed and the insane, he favored respect for their rights to liberty and the exercise of control over aspects of what affairs they were able to manage. Later, Ray dealt with the question of illegal or malicious involuntary commitment of the insane. Ray corresponded frequently with Judge Charles Doe of the New Hampshire Supreme Court concerning the insanity defense and involuntary commitment of the insane. Their viewpoints differed, but Ray’s arguments had an evident impact on Judge Doe’s position.

Acquisition information:
The original Isaac Ray Papers were purchased c. 1977-1981, but there is no written record of this transaction. The originals are a small segment of the collection. The photocopies of Isaac Ray’s correspondence and lecture notes, and the accompanying transcripts were made and donated by Dr. Jacques M. Quen between 1965 and 1976. These comprise the majority of the Isaac Ray Papers. Originals of the photocopies are housed in a variety of libraries and archives. The repositories are as follows: the American Antiquarian Society, Bowdoin College, Brown University, Butler Hospital, College of Physicians, Duke University, Harvard University, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Massachusetts Historical Society, and the National Archives.

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from the Oskar Diethelm Library and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Location of this collection:
DeWitt Wallace Institute of Psychiatry: History, Policy and the Arts
Weill Cornell Medical College
525 East 68th Street, Box 140
New York, NY 10065, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
212-746-3728