In 1966, George Glore of the Missouri Department of Mental Health had an idea for a Mental Health Awareness Week display. He built life-sized examples of phsyciatric treatment equipment from earlier centuries. Considered revolutionary at the time, many of these techniques—including shock therapy devices, ice baths, confinement boxes, giant treadmills, and more—now seem barbaric. As Glore himself explained, “We really can’t have a good appreciation of the strides we’ve made (in mental health treatment) if we don’t look at the atrocities of the past.”
The following year, Glore’s collection grew to include artifacts from other facilities around the state. The Glore Psychiatric Museum first opened in a ward of Missouri’s St. Joseph State Hospital, originally known as State Lunatic Asylum No. 2. Built in 1874, the fortress-like structure began with 25 patients, growing to more than 3,000 patients over the next 75 years. In 1968, the museum moved across the street to a former patient clinic, and the hospital itself was repurposed into a state prison and psychiatric rehabilitation facility. Today the museum is part of a cluster of cultural facilities, including the St. Joseph Museum, the Black Archives Museum, and the American Indian Galleries.
