A tour of the Glore Psychiatric Museum is an awe-inspiring experience. The Museum leads you through exhibits that illustrate the history and progress of mental health treatments. Housed in the medical, surgical, and admitting unit of the former St. Joseph State Hospital, the museum is one of only a few of its kind in the nation, making it a must-see.

Established in 1968 as a collection of displays for a St. Joseph State Hospital open house, the Glore Psychiatric Museum now presents over 10,000 items for viewing. The original displays were created by the museum’s namesake, George Glore, and are still a part of the collection. These exhibits give visitors a life-size visual of what mental health treatment devices looked like in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Glore, then the occupational therapist for the St. Joseph State Hospital, worked with his patients to create the original displays that tell the story of early treatments. Exhibits also share the history of what was once known as “State Lunatic Asylum No. 2” when it opened in St. Joseph in 1874. Donations from across the nation have gradually expanded the Glore Psychiatric Museum’s exhibits. In 2018, a series of temporary exhibits will be featured, highlighting the 50th anniversary of the museum.

The exhibits include surgical tools, treatment equipment, and doctor’s personal notes. Patient artwork, such as pottery, paintings, and needlework, is also on display to give visitors an idea of how patients faced their daily challenges and expressed themselves through their art. Exhibits include the contents removed from a patient’s stomach (such as nails, thimbles, and eating utensils), as well as a television set, packed full of handwritten notes written by another patient.

All four floors of the museum are available for viewing, in addition to a section of the 1930s tunnels once used to transport food, laundry, supplies, and even patients between St. Joseph State Hospital buildings. The tunnel walls are covered with murals painted by patients between 1988 and 1990.

To gain a better understanding of mental illness and the evolution of its understanding and treatment, a tour of the Glore Psychiatric Museum is an enlightening and unforgettable educational experience.