The Dorothea Dix Library and Museum
For anyone who is going to be in the area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a great place to stop by and see is the Dorothea Dix Library and Museum. This library and museum is set in a building that was actually built many years ago back in 1853. The building itself is the Harrisburg State Hospital, which used to be the Pennsylvania State Hospital for the Insane. You will find the museum set up in what was the Reading Room for Women.
Inside the Museum area, there are all kinds of photos, items and artifacts that lends quite a bit of insight to the history of the mental hospital. It is quite interesting for all who stop by to learn about mental health treatments in Pennsylvania as well as the rest of the country and how the field has grown since that time. The Museum and Library was actually built up years ago to benefit the patients of the hospital by providing them with entertainment and educational facilities.
When you stop by for a visit to the Dorothea Dix Museum and Library, you may get a kind of feeling as though you have seen the building before. This is because portions of the hospital site were used in the film "Girl Interrupted" from 1999, which starred Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder. The crew for the film took and used a fairly large portion of the Building 22 section of the hospital and transformed it into what was to look like a mental hospital from the late 1960s.
You will find the Dorothea Dix Library and Museum within the Harrisburg State Hospital, located at Cameron and McClay Streets. There is no charge for admission, however, you must make an appointment for a tour. You can call the hospital at (717) 772-7561.
Inside the Museum area, there are all kinds of photos, items and artifacts that lends quite a bit of insight to the history of the mental hospital. It is quite interesting for all who stop by to learn about mental health treatments in Pennsylvania as well as the rest of the country and how the field has grown since that time. The Museum and Library was actually built up years ago to benefit the patients of the hospital by providing them with entertainment and educational facilities.
When you stop by for a visit to the Dorothea Dix Museum and Library, you may get a kind of feeling as though you have seen the building before. This is because portions of the hospital site were used in the film "Girl Interrupted" from 1999, which starred Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder. The crew for the film took and used a fairly large portion of the Building 22 section of the hospital and transformed it into what was to look like a mental hospital from the late 1960s.
You will find the Dorothea Dix Library and Museum within the Harrisburg State Hospital, located at Cameron and McClay Streets. There is no charge for admission, however, you must make an appointment for a tour. You can call the hospital at (717) 772-7561.
