HISTORY 142A Chapter Notes - Chapter article: Gold Country, Stockton, California
Document Summary
10:35 am: point of essay: how mobility affected institutional experiences of people committed or arrested for insanity in major pacific mining boom regions in 19th century. Argument: institutions made people that those were supposed to contain want to leave. 1848-1860s: series of major gold rushes in california, british columbia, eastern. Australia >mass migrations of mostly young, male would-be miners from. Some were successful, most failed to "strike it rich" >returned home or tried to find other jobs. But there were some who switched between employment and gold- seeking a lot >very mobile across regional and national boundaries. Individuals and institutions in gold country: major booms in 3 regions >major influx to single male for migration > authorities wanted to implement/expand social infrastructure to match western ideals of order and discipline, major goal of institution building: containing "madness" So now there were a bunch of insane asylums and jails all over the place.
