Health and Medicine

Sharon and Willie at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center

Sharon and Willie at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, ca. July 1973. Image courtesy of Hallie Q. Brown Community Archives.

Child care at Hallie Q. Brown House

A child receives a dose of cod liver oil while at Hallie Q. Brown House, December 1938.

Commitment and Guardianship of Lydia B. Angier, 1896–1907

Lydia B. Angier was declared insane and committed against her will to Rochester State Hospital in 1896. For the next three years, she wrote letters arguing for her release and restoration to her old life in St. Paul, where she had run a newspaper stand. Her letters provide a window into life inside hospitals for the insane at the turn of the twentieth century, where many people faced poor living conditions and abuse.

Newspaper coverage of Lydia B. Angier’s 1896 commitment hearing

Newspaper coverage of Lydia B. Angier’s 1896 commitment hearing: “Will Be Cared For,” St. Paul Globe, November 14, 1896, page 8, col. 4.

Lydia B. Angier

Lydia B. Angier, ca. 1899. Photograph from box 113.H.I.4F-1 of the Fergus Falls State Hospital casebooks, 1890–1904, State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Volume 12 (file nos. 2335–2633, October 1898–April 1899) contains case records regarding patients and their care, their care at prior institutions, and demographic and medical details, in addition to photographs of patients.

Welsch v. Likins

Welsch v. Likins (1974) was a landmark legal case for disability rights in Minnesota. It dealt with three issues fundamental to the disability community. First, it addressed the right to treatment under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, the case confronted the provision of care in the least restrictive of environments, including home and community-based services (HCBS). Third, it questioned whether institutional environments violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Newsletter page with photograph of the Welsch family

The front page of a newsletter (published by the non-profit organization Rise) from November 2002 featuring a story about Welsch v. Likins and a photograph of the Welsch family. Pictured are Richard Welsch, Eleanor Welsch, and their children (left to right) Mary, Ed, and Patty.