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Cover design by Sally Nichols Cover photos: Opening day of the carousel, Belchertown State School, 1948, courtesy Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services; (background) Study Hall, site of former Belchertown State School, 2011, by Tim Palmioli, www.TimPalmioli.com. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS PRESS Amherst & Boston www.umass.edu/umpress During much of the twentieth century, people labeled “feeble-minded,” “mentally deficient,” and “mentally retarded” were often confined in large, publicly funded, residential institutions located some distance from major population centers. At the peak of their development in the late 1960s, these institutions—frequently called “schools” or “homes” —housed 190,000 men, women, and children in the United States. The Girls and Boys of Belchertown offers the first detailed history of an American public institution for intellectually disabled persons. Robert Hornick recounts the story of the state school in Belchertown, Massachusetts , from its beginnings in the 1920s to its closure in the 1990s following a scandalous exposé and unprecedented court case that put the institution under direct supervision of a federal judge. Hornick also gauges the impact of changing social attitudes toward intellectual disability and examines the relationship that developed over time between the school and the town where it was located. “An important addition to scholarly literature, not only because it is an excellent history, but also because Hornick includes the perspectives of parents and relatives, state and institutional officials, direct-care workers, and the citizens of Belchertown, as well as the institution’s residents themselves. I was particularly struck by the book’s ending—an ending that gives two former residents of the Belchertown State School the ‘final say.’”—James W. Trent, author of Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States An independent scholar and international lawyer, ROBERT HORNICK teaches law at the University of Arizona and is the author of several books on Indonesian law. ...

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