Scope and Contents A collection of manuscript and printed ephemera relating to the early history of the treatment of mental illness, much of which relates to the Hanwell Asylum (later Middlesex County Asylum). Comprises: correspondence, committal returns, maintenance orders, petitions, accounts, printed extracts, engravings and illustrations. Together with some disparate material relating to Bethlem Hospital, Gloucester County Asylum, Hertfordshire County, Dr Bedford Pierce at the Retreat in York and to a...