retreat hospital – Borthwick Institute Blog

Who came to see the Retreat? A look through the Retreat Visitors’ Books

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 29 May 2015

Written by Kath Webb. Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington didn’t visit the Retreat! The monarch would never have signed herself “Queen Victoria” in 1856, and the signature of the Iron Duke in 1821 fails to match up with authenticated examples. Mischievous or deluded patients from the democratic Retreat “family” were probably responsible for … Continue reading Who came to see the Retreat? A look through the Retreat Visitors’ Books

Rehabilitating John Summerland

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 27 March 2015

This is one of a series of blog posts published as material from the Retreat archive is digitised and made available online. More information about the Wellcome Library funded project to digitise the Retreat archive can be found on the project pages of our website. Digital surrogates from the Retreat archive project so far are … Continue reading Rehabilitating John Summerland

Continuity and Change at The Retreat

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 29 January 2015

Written by Jenny Mitcham, Digital Archivist, Borthwick Institute Arranging a tour of the grounds of the Retreat for a morning in January was a bit of a risk. We were truly at the mercy of the elements! We were fortunate however to have picked a day when there was no snow or ice on the … Continue reading Continuity and Change at The Retreat

George Isaac Sidebottom: Spot the Cat

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 8 August 2014

Written by Alexandra Medcalf Like most archives, although most of our holdings are manuscripts on parchment or paper, bound into volumes and loose leaf, we do have other objects in our strong-rooms. This painting shows people in the grounds of the Retreat, York, in the late nineteenth century. The Retreat was, and is, a psychiatric … Continue reading George Isaac Sidebottom: Spot the Cat

Vegetarianism in World War One

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 1 October 2013

Written by Alexandra Medcalf. Before finding these documents, I had never considered the difficulties of rationing for vegetarians. Of course, we are all familiar with the fact of rationing in this country during the Second World War, but careful management of the country’s food supply was also necessary during World War One. After the country … Continue reading Vegetarianism in World War One

The Best of the Borthwick

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 17 April 2013

Followers of our Twitter feed, and keen visitors, may have noticed a new exhibition which has gone into the space outside our offices on the second floor of the Borthwick. This new exhibition, Best of the Borthwick, was designed by our archival trainees for 2012/13, Zoe and Amy, who have now finished their placement at … Continue reading The Best of the Borthwick