Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00am–2:00pm.
Location: Level 2 Atrium, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, West 5th Campus, 100 West 5th St., Hamilton, ON, L9C 3N6
Access: Admission is by donation. All proceeds go to support museum educational programming
Contact: museumpc@stjoes.ca
Telephone: 905-522-1155 ex 35512
Website Address: https://www.stjoes.ca/about/our-locations/west-5th/hamilton-museum-of-mental-health-care
The Hamilton Museum of Mental Health Care is committed to the collection, interpretation and continued preservation of the history of mental health care at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Margaret and Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare.
The museum has a rich collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts that tell the story of mental health care at the West 5th campus from the opening of the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane in 1876 to the present day. Historical collections focus on the site as an Asylum, Ontario Hospital, the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital, and finally as the Margaret and Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare at St. Joseph’s. The museum’s exhibits feature themes such as the nursing school, occupational therapy, treatments, and changing attitudes towards mental health care.
Among the notable items in the Museum’s collections is one of the few Utica Cribs in existence. Designed in Utica, NY in the 1840s, the crib was based on a similar device used in French asylums. This crib was found in storage at the West 5th site with little evidence it was used to any extent here, as the first superintendent, Dr. Bucke, promoted a policy of non-restraint. The Museum also has a collection of patient art, created during occupational and art therapy programs.
There are a number of resources for research related to the history of mental health care available at the Museum. These include scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, hospital newsletters, annual reports and photographs. An online database of artifacts and historical documents is currently in development. All official documentation and records produced by the hospital dating from 2000 and earlier are the properties of the Archives of Ontario. For information on the history of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton see the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Library.