Archives

Primary source documents are ground zero of the historian’s turf.  This is where historical interpretation begins, in records created years, decades, or even centuries past, now fixed in the historian’s gaze. The work of the After the Asylum Project uncovered some important archival collections from the deinstitutionalization era which are presented here. These augment Robert Menzies’ BC material on the history of madness and its intersections with the criminal justice system and links to important related archival collections located elsewhere. As much as possible, we follow archival principles when arranging collections, valuing both the origin (provenance) and the original order of the records. However, we also aim to make our collections accessible to all visitors, and this means choosing plain language over academic language, and sometimes selecting alternative styles of presentation.

As with other sections of Resources, we are interested in building up our Archive collections. If you have materials that you would think would be appropriate for Madness Canada, please fill out and submit this donation form.

If Madness Canada archival material is to be used in a published form that renders it publicly available, permission to use it must be sought from Madness Canada by submitting this permission form. Classroom, conference or personal use does not require our permission.

Click on the items in the right hand menu to explore our archival collections.