This resource was created as part of the 2019 exhibition ‘Prisoners or Patients? Criminal Insanity in Victorian Scotland’. It was a partnership exhibition between National Records of Scotland (NRS) and guest curator Professor Rab Houston of the University of St Andrews. The exhibition took place in General Register House, Matheson Dome, Edinburgh, in August 2019.
The exhibition was informed by Professor Houston’s project ‘Promoting mental health through the lessons of history’. Records from the archives of NRS were displayed and contextualised to highlight the treatment of prisoner-patients in a society very different from today. The hope was that examining how these individuals were treated in the past, will allow us to reflect on the same issues now, and to approach those suffering from mental disorders with better understanding and greater compassion.
Credits
The Audio recordings were created with the help of the Acting for Stage & Screen Course at Queen Margaret University and their lecturer, Marion Scott. All the recordings include voice credits for the students involved.
