March 20th, 2008
Weston Name Change Offensive?
Not too surprisingly there’s some noise being made over the recent rechristening of Weston State Hospital as the “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum”. The latter is of course the institution’s original name, and is definitely more attention grabbing than the less archaic “Weston State Hospital”. No doubt the new owners changed it to help market the place as a tourist destination.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting tells the story in a recent podcast: “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum” Offends Disability Advocates.
When speaking historically about these places, terms like “lunatic”, “insane” and “asylum” aren’t inappropriate. I can understand that people who spent time at Weston might not appreciate the place being known as a lunatic asylum, but I wouldn’t say that means the new owners should change the name back.
“State hospital” isn’t an overly popular term either…although there’s something to be said about “lunatic asylum” stigmatizing individuals more so than “state hospital” does. I’d be interested to hear what other people think about this. Please comment if you have any thoughts.
it is pretty offensive. but call me selfish, but if it keeps it standing, im all for it :P. especially since i havent seen it yet. but yeah, it is pretty offensive.
I agree. If it means helping preserve the place, using its original name isn’t an issue as far as I’m concerned. They’re being historically accurate too. It’s not like they renamed it The Haunted Insane Asylum for Psychotic Criminals or something ridiculous like that.
I dont see anything wrong with it … Its giving it back its birth name..
Yeah, the fact that it’s the original name gives it some merit. I think the owners may have gone a little overboard though in other ways…
Something I missed before I made this post are the planned “Psycho Path” dirt-bike races. That’s in pretty poor taste, and pretty uninspired humor to boot.
Here’s a more detailed AP report which mentions those:
Asylum’s Renaming Insults Advocates
And a playfully ironic commentary by Stephen Suh can be found here:
A Very Serious, Thoughtful Museum That – Oh, Never Mind
My grandmother was a patient there long ago. She wasn’t a lunatic. I pray my mother and her sisters do not see this for it will be very hurtful to them. How dare you!
How dare I what? Discuss somebody else using the word “lunatic”? Give me a break. I hope this is a joke…
I grew up in Weston, and had several family members who were employed there. The hospital holds lots of history for the town. The name does not offend only if you let it. By preserving the name and the buildings a part of history is being preserved. It just needs to be done in a decent way, not by advertising the ghosts or a mud bog, but by preserving the history that lies inside the great buildings.
Well said, Terri. I think that about sums up my feelings on the subject.
I tend to more credit the new owners for trying to find a way to preserve the building than I do blame them for bringing back the original name. Sadly, there was a time in our history when such words were used to describe people with mental/emotional conditions that we didn’t understand. Rather than be offended let’s think about how much our understanding has evolved and be thankful.
I was born in Weston, almost all of my relatives still reside in Lewis Co., and my Aunt worked at the hospital for years. It is such a beautiful, beautiful building(s). Going back to the original name does not offend me even though I’ll always refer to it as Weston State Hospital. I truly hope that it will be properly taken care of. Curious – does anyone know where the patient records are now? Records from the 1800’s to current?
Arlene, hopefully someone else will come along and give you a definitive answer about the patient records. For what it’s worth, my best guess is that they were transferred to the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital (also in Weston). I believe that facility was Weston State Hospital’s replacement.
My great-grandmother was a patient there for a short time before she died. She became blind and her family was told she had “dementia.” The name does not bother me in the fact that if by using it, it will preseve the building and history. On the other hand, as the name circulates and becomes more used I feel that some people will think there is something wrong with my family of my self because we had a relative that happened to be a patient there. Also, can the family request to look at the documents/file of a former family member’s ? My family has always wondered what “officially” they listed as being wrong with my great-grandmother.
Thanks for your response Ethan. Melissa, I have done genealogy research on my families and I know that some of my relatives in the 1800’s and early 1900’s were there. Don’t know if because of TB or mental issues and would love to confirm. Ethan says to check with the Wm R. Sharpe Hospital. I plan to, and please, rise above and ignore anyone that would have a negative thought about you or your family due to your gg’s stay there.
You also might try contacting the West Virginia Bureau for Behavioral Health. Their contact info is on their site at http://www.wvdhhr.org/bhhf/contact.asp
I can’t guarantee that they’ll be able to help, but it’s worth a try.
In addition, there’s a section of my forum devoted to finding patient records. There’s nothing yet about WV in particular, but most states have similar agencies and rules, so you might be able to apply the general pointers available there to your search.
See http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=23
Good luck.
To the Ldies asking about medical records for Weston State Hospital:
I, too, am a genealogist and have had one man that was there between 1864 until he died in the late 1800s–1892 to be exact. And during my research, I found this out.
Weston State Hospital, or more like it the state, does NOT give out medical records AT ALL to ANYONE for ANY reason whatsoever. Now, keep in mind, this information was given to me before the current owners bought the place. There was a Weston State Hospital site that I was told to visit to see what information they had there and this was what they had listed on the site itself. Not with a lawyer, not a direct descendant, not a genealogist–NO ONE! The records are NOT accessible.
My belief is that, with the way a lot of treatments were handed out back then (some of them downright cruel, if you ask me) the State does not wish to be sued by anyone’s descendants for what was common practice back then.
As for Sharps–yes, it was built to replace Weston State Hospital. Once Sharps opened, pretty much Weston was closed.
I am looking for information on accessing a grandfather’s records.
I am mainly concerned about dates when he was there. This would help tracing the missing years of his life.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Nancy
my great grandfather was ther for 2 years for schitzophrenia and dementia
I am glad they are trying to preserve the history, but I do not like the name change even though it was the original name. They changed it to Weston State Hospital for a reason. I am apposed to the name change because I had an Uncle who was born with Rickets and back then they did not understand nor had treatments for this so he was eventually sent to Weston where he stayed until he died. He was not insane.
I did a 4 mo. internship there from the Rehab. Counseling dept of WVU. I think there are many other ways to preserve the history of the hospital than renaming it such a truly offensive name. I can only think of the patients I knew and how hurtful this would be to them.
I believe it is a form of bullying to use this name toward people who are unable to fight for themselves.
If this page is up , I was a temporary patient in 1989 and I was amazed.The people as patients were great and full of nice info and spiritual awareness, some not all.I was forced to leave after 8-10 days, tried to return to share Pizza with my new found friends and was met with security and told to not come back unless I needed help, but allowed friends to have Pizza.I have never been to a place such as this (Mental Facility)and was scared stiff at first and later after a day or so, saw it was a blessing, lost souls, trapped with much despair.Many people there in my opinion did not belong there, come needed to be there perhaps. I was booted out in my thoughts, for helping those who were confused, lost,with simple compassion I won all in the ward I was in as friends and gained their trust. I had orderlies to come,get me, to go to some patients and settle the patients in question down. At that time in my life I had an unbelievable ability to talk to out of order patients and believe it or not They always received as their friend and listened to me (I give it to God). Thanks for reading this, so much more to say but this is the truth.God Bless
I think perhaps if they removed the word ‘Lunatic’ and just called it Trans-Allegheny Asylum it would have less of a sting in it’s name.
Although though you shouldn’t have to change history just to fit the political correctness of today. You could call Auschwitz ‘Happy Fun Park’ but that wouldn’t change the past.
The only thing i question about the museum is the cartoon of the ‘lunatic’ on the front of those t-shirts, that is a bit tasteless i’ll admit.