Welcome
Welcome to Immigration, Psychiatry, and Mental Hygiene through the Thomas W. Salmon Papers. This exhibit showcases the life of Thomas W. Salmon (1876-1927), a prominent psychiatrist active in the mental hygiene movement and early advocate of psychiatric care for veterans suffering from PTSD. It focuses on the pivotal role Salmon’s tenure at Ellis Island (1904-07) played in formulating his preoccupation with public health administration, education, and advocacy. Through this angle, the exhibition explores the relationship between psychiatry, immigration, and the newly-emerging field of "mental hygiene" in the early 20th century, revealing how psychiatrists used a rising tide of immigration into the US to reimagine their position in society.
Immigration, Psychiatry, and Mental Hygiene includes a series of chapters focusing on periods of Salmon’s life and his writings, alongside explanations of larger issues and cultural trends that shaped his perspective and reaction to different issues. The exhibition is based on the archival holdings of the Oskar Diethelm Library, including materials from the Thomas W. Salmon Collection and the National Committee for Mental Hygiene Collection, and materials made publicly available by the Rockefeller Foundation Archives and the Noble Maritime Collection.
When browsing this exhibition, you may encounter offensive or harmful language, including but not limited to language that is racist, xenophobic, and ableist. This reflects the language that was used by the people and organizations that created the material. This includes language that was considered acceptable at the time, but is now no longer appropriate, most notably ableist descriptions and framings of mental health. Harmful and offensive language is retained in this exhibit to document the social context in which the source material was created and the perspectives of its creators.
At the end of the exhibit, you will find some additional resources to consult, including places to go for further research into Salmon and related topics. All of the items in the Oskar Diethelm’s Thomas W. Salmon Collection have been digitized and can be accessed via a Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York repository.
Curated by Nick Brenner and Nicole Topich. Please contact the Oskar Diethelm Library with any questions or for more information at nrt4001@med.cornell.edu or (212) 746-3728.