The cover of the March 2003 issue of the Joint Newsletter, number 7
(http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk/jointnewsletter/7.pdf) carries the face of
Julian Maclaren-Ross, cult English author and resident for a time in
Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital, a rare witness of the
Northfield Experiments from the side of the client. Inside the issue is
published a short story he wrote for the Northfield patients' magazine,
found among Northfield pioneer S.H. Foulkes' papers at the Wellcome
Library.
Paul Willetts, who wrote the excellent biography - "Fear and Loathing in
Fitzrovia: The Bizarre Life of Julian Maclaren-Ross" published by Dewi
Lewis Publishers in 2003 - has brought out a collection of
Maclaren-Ross's "Selected Letters" (Black Spring Press, London, 2008.
ISBN 978-0-948238-3). Sandwiched between a letter of 17 February 1943
("Off to hospital Birmingham tomorrow") and 10 May 1943 when he was
returned to his unit ("at a moment's notice and without seeing Major
Backus [his therapist] before leaving...". Thank goodness all THAT's
changed) and eventually discharged there are eighteen letters by him
written from "Military Hospital/Northfields/Birmingham". There are also
two extensive letters in an appendix, written by Maclaren-Ross's
girlfriend Scylla Yates at the time describing her visit to Northfield
and discussions with Dr. Backus.
Northfield, of course, is where the term "therapeutic community" first
becomes anchored in British psychiatry, through Tom Main's famous paper
in the 1946 Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic. (Haven't seen it? The ATC
Administration Team still has copies of the special edition of
Therapeutic Communities in which they were reprinted. 01242 620077 or
[log in to unmask] The Archive and Study Centre has a copy
of the original, picked up from a cardboard box full of ephemera in an
Oxford secondhand book store, just up the road from the rail station,
priced 50p, about fifteen years ago).
Personal accounts of life in a therapeutic community today are rare
enough, even in a time of blogs. How special an articulate patient's
comments, in letters to his publisher, written sixty five years ago, in
the complex dawn of the history of therapeutic community?
"Julian Maclaren-Ross: Selected Letters", edited by Paul Willetts,
published by Black Spring Press, London, at £9.95. £6.56 from Amazon.uk
all the best,
Craig
--
Dr. Craig Fees, RMSA
Archivist
Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre
Hon. Director, Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments (a research and study centre of the University of Birmingham)
Church Lane
Toddington near Cheltenham
Glos. GL54 5DQ
United Kingdom
01242 620125
http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk
Keep up to date with Archive News, Events and Recent Accessions: The Archive and study Centre blog at http://news.pettarchiv.org.uk/
|