ABSTRACT
Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains from archaeological contexts. Very existence of the Oneida County Asylum represents an experimental moment in the care of the mentally ill in nineteenth-century United States history. In this period the standards of care for the mentally ill were greatly elevated due to the reformist e orts of Dorothea Dix, who, are observing advances in institutions and treatment in Great Britain and Europe, set herself to ameliorate the plight of this class in the United States. A continued controversy and reports of substandard care in some of the exempted county asylums, New York passed the State Care Act of 1890 that rescinded the county asylum exemptions and all mandated state care of the mentally ill. Erapeutics at the Oneida County Asylum Perhaps the greatest reform in the care of the mentally ill during nineteenth century America was the widespread adoption of labour therapy for incarcerated groups.
