The Wellcome’s Mental Health digitized records include a large span of primary source material that deal with the history of medicine dating from the 15th century to present day. Topics covered include anatomy, chemistry, psychology, zoology, and almost everything in between. The artifact I chose to explore is ‘Reasons for the establishing and further encouragement of Saint Luke’s Hospital for Lunaticks’ published 1830 in London, England. It is a small, printed book which includes lists of current staff, instructions, properties, and annual accounts and statistics. St. Lukes was founded in 1750 and functioned as a mental hospital for the poor. I chose this artifact because I am intrigued by the aspect of inhumane treatment of the mentally ill during this time period. Terms once widely used by professionals for describing the mentally ill (lunatic or idiot) would be considered wildly inappropriate today. When looking at the patient summaries, less than half of all patients that had been admitted were discharged as cured. The majority were discharged as uncured, idiots, diseased, or unfit. What would they do with these patients that were released as uncured? The concept of being deemed as an idiot or unfit for treatment also makes me wonder what criteria was being used for admission. When we think about Rochester keeping Bertha, a mentally unstable woman, in his attic for all those years, we are quick to judge Rochester for locking her up, questioning if he was the cause of her insanity. However thinking back to the level of understanding people had of mental health during this time period, many people would not have been able to understand Bertha’s mental illness or its cause. This article reminded me to think of things in the context of the time period they were written in and not just mine. Getting a closer look at primary sources from the time period made it easier for this to be accomplished and see another point of view.