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DoomHamster, Or anybody out there that can help me. I'm trying to trace my Welish, Irish Geneoligy. Can anybody out there help me???????

that clock looks like it is new.

AWSOME!!!!! Mr. Motts, what was on the signs, or whatever they are, that are hanging down???????? They must be direction signs. Were they????

P.S. From "The 18th Annual Report of the Trustees of the Willard Asylum for the Insane for the year 1886" - Schedule A - "An abstract of the vouchers audited by the Committee on Audits":

Audit date: November 7, 1885
No. of Voucher: 31
Item: New Urbana Wine Co.
For: wine
Amount: $39.52
No. of Voucher: 79
Item: L. W. Kaufman
For: whiskey
Amount: $69.00

Audit date: December 8, 1885
No. of Voucher: 156
Item: New Urbana Wine Co.
For: wine and grapes
Amount: $60.92

Audit date: January 7, 1886
No. of Voucher: 283
Item: L. W. Kaufman
For: whiskey
Amount: $66.75
No. of Voucher: 301
Item: New Urbana Wine Co.
For: wine
Amount: $38.67

Audit date: February 8, 1886
No. of Voucher: 468
Item: New Urbana Wine Co.
For: wine
Amount: $40.37
No. of Voucher: 557
Item: L. W. Kaufman
For: whisky (sic)
Amount: $69.00

For four months at that time, that was one heck of a lot of money to spend on alcohol if no one was imbibing.

I also purchased a lovely letter the other day on eBay dated July 6, 1893 from the Superintendent (O.R. Long, M.D.) of the "Michigan Asylum for Dangerous and Criminal Insane" in Ionia, Michigan, to the Pleasant Valley Wine Company of New York (it's still there, too) asking for prices on their "Great Western brand of champagne for this asylum."

Felyne, Wish I could see what you see, but I surely don't. It just looks like old age to me. TIME, it's a killer. Were all gona look like that some day.

Reminds me of that SANITARY look. Mr. Motts, Was there no furniture left behind?? Were there no signs of life here, or is it all gone. Was there nothing left to show that life was here, besides those papers that I saw in a previous photo??? Where did all the people go when this was closed down??

GREAT SHOT!!!!!! The red is to bright for it be blood. My first impression was "DEAD MAN WALKING". See what you bring out in people, Mr. Motts?????

Great Shot!!! Notice the glass windows on the right. THEY ARE WATCHING YOU, ALWAYS WATCHING YOU!!!!!

If you've seen the movie Snatch, Brad Pitt's character is a pikey.

Pathetic!!!!! I hope I never end up like that.

This ect. is pathetic. I just can't deal with this. This kind of mental illness and being homeless are my tow greatest fears in life.

Holy smokes! Absolutely magical shot!

I bags next after Phamie!!! Wheeeeeeee!

Well, actually back in the beginning, beer and whiskey WERE available to staff and some patients on a regular basis. I have a number of old Annual Reports for the various "asylums" that list out everything they purchased that year, and wine, whiskey, beer, and cigarettes were in many of the older reports (up until maybe the 1920s or so). Obviously there were hospitals devoted entirely to "inebriates", but there weren't very many of them in the United States because people who were alcoholics and/or drug addicts were not considered to be "insane" until later years. In many cases they were housed elsewhere than were people who were considered to be "insane" or "feeble-minded." The inebriate hospital was something they had more of in Great Britain, if I remember correctly. However, there were a number of smaller private "sanitariums" in the US that catered to alcoholism and "narcotic fiends."

Motts says its a rather unappealing shot, but it almost comes to life for me, I can almost see people in the picture (you know, like one of those cheesey Titanic movie flashbacks).

*holds tongue from suggesting the rabid dog be muzzled*