Contains administrative files from the operation, expansion, and sale of Highland Hospital (Asheville, North Carolina) for the years between 1906 and 1980. Types of materials include agreements, annual reports, architectural plans, appraisals, audits, brochures, budgets, clippings, correspondence, data on lawsuits resulting from fire and accident, deeds, fiscal reports, insurance papers, minutes, monthly statements, newsletters, photographs, programs, publications, reports, as well as sale and lease papers. Major subjects in this collection include A. S. Brower, Robert S. Carroll, R. Charman Carroll, and the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Also includes a small amount of notebooks with nursing lecture notes. References to Zelda Fitzgerald are found in the Clippings: Fire folder. The materials date from 1906 to 1981 with the majority of the records including the period between 1939 to 1957 and 1978 to 1980.
Highland Hospital was a residential psychiatric hospital located in Asheville, North Carolina, founded by Robert S. Carroll in 1904. In 1939, Carroll offered to give the hospital to Duke University. Directorship of the hospital was assumed by Duke University in September 1944 under the umbrella of the newly established Department of Neuropsychiatry (now the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences).
Highland Hospital utilized contemporary techniques such as shock therapy in the treatment of mental illnesses, depression, and substance abuse problems. Although it functioned mainly as a regional provider, it attracted elite clientele from around the country. The hospital advertised itself as "an institution employing all rational methods in the treatment of nervous habit, and mental cases: especially emphasizing the natural curative agents -- rest, climate, water, diet, work, and play".
Direct administration of the hospital included a president, medical director, business manager, and treasurer. Members of Duke University School of Medicine faculty worked on staff. Resident physicians were employed as psychotherapists, along with nurses, dieticians, avocational therapists, occupational therapists, and attendants. Over 100 other workers handled other duties.
The aesthetically pleasing hospital complex consisted of several buildings each equipped to serve the needs of parts of the patient population. Around 1944 it included the Central Building, Oak Lodge, Brushwood Bungalow, and Highland Hall. The Central Building (Women's Building) was designed by Robert S. Carroll in 1938-1939. It contained an assembly hall, hydrotherapy and culinary departments, examination/treatment rooms, and offices. The Central Building was badly damaged by fire in 1948. Oak Lodge was created mainly for male patients. It offered a large clubroom, woodsy views, and large porches. Brushwood Bungalow was intended for patients to occupy private, exclusive suites. Patient rooms and suites were also located within Highland Hall. Another building, the Homewood, offered a place for convalescing patients to receive special education and close observation. As more of the surrounding property was acquired more buildings were added including staff housing and Carroll-Potter Hall. The records indicate constant maintenance and plans for expansion between the 1930s and the 1950s.
Duke University Medical Center sold Highland Hospital in 1980 to Psychiatric Institutes of America.
