History of Mental Health Institutes detailed in new book

Feb. 05--What began as an interest in the architectural design of Iowa'sMental Health Institutes, turned into a three-volume work on the hospitals' history, people and the communities they served.

David Rosheim, 71, of Maquoketa began his research in 2012 and quickly discovered very little had been written about any of the state's four MHIs beyond newspaper clippings and a few articles in academic journals. Other states, Rosheim said, have produced more detailed histories, opening an opportunity for him to fill the historical vacancy in Iowa.

"I thought there was a gap there, and if there's a topic I'm interested in, I like to pursue it," he said.

Rosheim, an antique bookseller , published "The Four Sisters: A History of Iowa's State Psychiatric Hospitals" in December. It ranges from the early history of Iowa's first mental health hospital, which opened in 1861, to the July 2015 closure of MHIs in Mount Pleasant and Clarinda. Gov. Terry Branstad shuttered the hospitals with a line-item veto that stripped their funding.

Rosheim pointed out the seemingly backwards approach Branstad has taken to mental health issues in the state, writing that in the early 20th century before any Mental Health Institutes were built, people with mental illnesses were left homeless or often were jailed because there were no resources available to provide care.

"(The Mount Pleasant and Clarinda MHIs) should have been kept open," he said. "We're going the opposite way of how we should be. I think they should not only be reopened but some of the wards should be modernized and provide bed space for our people."

To begin the process of piecing together more than 150 years of history, Rosheim relied heavily on library archives, newspaper articles and the state historical society to provide research material. In the spring of 2013, he started traveling around the state to collect materials and interview patients who had lived in the hospitals.

"I like to use first-person narratives -- let the other people do the talking, in short. That makes it very interesting."

Early in 2015, all his materials were collected and interviews were completed, so Rosheim began writing.

"It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle," he said, starting with the early treatment of the mentally ill.

"Most of Iowa around that period of time, in the late 19th century, was very agricultural. A lot of the people in these institutions were farmers, farmhands and farmers' wives. Most of the institutions revolved around farming and maintaining the vast acreage. That was considered therapeutic. Today, we would call it occupational therapy."

The author said he was surprised to learn how overcrowded the hospitals were and the number of hospital staff that lived on-site. If an institution was built to house 500 or 600 people, he said, it wasn't uncommon to find the hospitals exceeding capacity by three times the number of patients it was built to accommodate.

"They had to really sleep all over the place," Rosheim said.

The Luther College graduate wrote his first book, a collection of poems, at 19 years old when he was the literary editor of the student newspaper. His father taught history classes in Ames public schools and was an avid reader, a trait Rosheim said he learned by observing his father.

"I got to appreciate the wider world around me," he said. "I had to find out how things got going and what made them tick. I was always very curious."

Rosheim said he always has taken an interest in local history and would like to explore the origins of downtown buildings and businesses in Iowa City for his next book. To purchase the three-volume set, contact David Rosheim at (563) 652-5694 or via email at tcbooks@q.com.

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