Dorothea Lynde Dix
Personal Information
Born: 1802
Died: 1887
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
was taught to read & write by her father, received no formal education
"“I never knew a childhood." (battlefields.org); "If I am cold, they are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if I am alone, they are abandoned.” (battlefields.org); "Man is not made better by being degraded;he is seldom restrained from crime by harsh measures, except the principle of fear predominates in his character; and then he is never made radically better for its influence." (encyclopedia.com); "I give cheerfully my whole time, mind, strength and income, to the service of my country," and would not "receive any remuneration for what I cheerfully render as a loyal woman." (siarchives.si.edu); "
— Dorothea Lynde Dix
Professional Life
Field of Study: Social reform
Institution/Corporation: None found
Degrees & Memberships: Member: elected President for Life of Army Nurses Association (even though she disapproved of the association & had little to do with them)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1866 was awarded 2 national flags for her service in the Civil War; 1979 National women's Hall of Fame
Achievements: created the 1st generation of American mental health asylums; 1824-30 wrote mainly devotional books & stories for children; her book, "The Garland of flora" published in 1829 was 1 of the 1st 2 dictionaries of flowers published in the US; 1931-36 opened & ran another school for girls in boston but again had to closeit due to poor health; 1853 assisted in shipwreck rescue in Nova Scotia; was among the 1st to believe insanity was treatable & better living conditions could do much to help people with mental illness
at age 12 she & her 2 younger brothers were sent to live with their wealthy paternal grandmother in boston to escape her alcoholic parents & abbusive father
began teaching at an all-girls school she started in worcester, MA at age 14 & emphasized ethical living & the natural sciences in her lessons
approximately 1821 opened a school in boston for well-to-do families & taught poor & neglected children in her grandmother's barn
1840-41 conducted a statewide investigation into the treatment of the mentally ill poor in Massachusetts & taught classes to female inmates in East Cambridge publishing a report known as a Memorial to the state legislature which ultimately led to a bill to expand the state's mental hospital in Worcester
conducted similar investigations & wrote reports in other states & 13 European countries
during the civil War set the guidelines for volunteer nurses & preferred they were 35 to 50 years old, plain-looking, wore black or brown unhooped dresses & wore no jewelry or cosmetics
was very anti-Catholic & didn't get along with nurses who were Catholic
often fired volunteer nurses she didn't personally train or hired thus angering many other groups such as the US sanitary commission
raised funds for the monument to deceased soldiers at Fort Monroe in Virginia, established a war memorial at Hampton Roads in Virginia, & a fountain for thirsty horses at the Boston Custom Square
1983 the US Postal service issued a 1-cent stamp bearing her likeness
is 1 of the 6 women featured on panels erected in 1999 at the Massachusetts State House
a WWII US Navy transport ship was named in her honor
a crater on venus is named after her
her nickname during the Civil War was Dragon dix due to her strictness
her most famous & widely read book was "Conversations on Common things" published in 1824 & in its 60th printing in 1869
sponsored an 1848 congressional bill to grant over 12 million acres of Federal land to be used to benefit & treat the mentally ill, blind & deaf which was passed by both houses of congress but vetoed by President Pierce in 1854
her grandmother died in 1837 & left her financially independent
in 1841 there were 13 mental hospitals in the US which were increased to 123 at the time of her death largely due to her efforts