PEOPLE
The forefathers, founders and administrators of the Ladd School tell the tale of its history in their own words.
HISTORICAL FIGURES

Phillipe Pinel
"In all public asylums as well as in prisons and hospitals ... the only method of securing health, good order, and good manners, is ... execution of the natural law of bodily labour...."
A Treatise on Insanity (1806)
Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard
"Here is a subnormal boy who has lacked civilizing experience. If I give him this experience, he will become normal."
Lieberman, L. M. (1982). Itard: The Great Problem Solver. Journal Of Learning Disabilities
Edouard Seguin
"Not one idiot in a thousand has been entirely refractory to treatment ... to conform to social and moral law ... and to working like the third of a man...."
(1889) Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biograph
Samuel Gridley Howe
"The humanity and justice of our rulers will prompt them to take immediate measures for the formation of a school or schools for the instruction and training of idiots."
(1848) Report Made to the Legislature of Massachusetts Upon Idiocy"Colonization seems ... to be the ideal and perfectly satisfactory method."
Goddard, Henry H. (1913) The Kallikak FamilyFOUNDERS

Dr. Walter E. Fernald
"Feeble-mindedness is the mother of crime, pauperism and degeneracy. It is certain that the feebleminded and their progeny constitute one of the great social and economic burdens of modern times."
(1919) National Committee for Mental Hygeine Vol.3, p.180
Dr. William F. Gleason
"For it is a matter of fact that the removal or isolation of these helpless subjects in an institution ... returns one or more self-supporting persons, bread-winners, to the general public. "
(1907) Report ... On a State School for Feeble-Minded Children"You don't need teachers; what you need is an asphyxiation chamber."
DeSilva, B.(1974, May 19) The Providence Journal, p.A1FIRST ADMINISTRATION

Dr. Joseph H. Ladd
"Modern society circumvents nature's law of the survival of the fittest, but we mustn't go too far in allowing not only the survival but also the multiplication of the unfit."
Greenberg, S. (1948, Feb 29) Dr. Ladd. The Providence Journal, p.19
Dr. Amadeo Mastrobuono
"Patient is a little dwarf who works about at the Colony and cares for the low grades .... He has had no serious illness in the past year. However, he has grown old."
(1947, June), Medical Notes for R.D.
Mary F. Mcternan
"Society must proect itself against nameless children and our School gave the protection."
Jason Carpenter (2014), Exeter Girls, vol.1, p.139
Suzanna J. Murphy
"I considered it necessary for [the patient] to get another whipping, and if ever she needed a whipping, she needed one last night."
Jason Carpenter (Unpublished), Exeter Girls, vol.2
Dr. Sidney Goldstein
"Do you see where the patients have kicked out the plaster here? It's no wonder. I'd like to kick it myself."
Terry Goldstein & Beryl Segal (Nov, 1973), RI Jewish Historical Notes
Dr. Joseph Cannon
"The Ladd School is currently a poor operation. There is virtually no leadership -- in the full meaning of that word."
Peter Perl (1978, Feb 5), The Providence Journal"The Exeter hospital is the home of the eternally doomed...."
Report to The General Assembly (1955)SECOND ADMINISTRATION

J. Joseph Garrahy
"Oh my God. It's horrible, absolutely horrible."
(1977, November 16), The Providence Journal, p.A1
Dr. John G. Smith
"Don't you ever come down here and ask for my resignation, only come down and fire me. I will never resign."
(1978, October 16), The Providence Journal, p.A1
Francis P. Kelley
"We're catching up for 50 years of neglect and that just doesn't happen overnight."
(1974, July 25), The Bridgeport Post, p.6
Miss Frances Linden
"Mass admissions are harmful both to the individual ... and to the institution and violate human rights."
(1946, June 30), Report to the Dept. of Social Welfare
Dr. Bodhan Masyk
"[The Exeter School hospital] is not a real hospital.... The school's staff of only two physicians is wholly inadequate for an institution the size of Exeter."
(1957, April 19), The Providence Journal, p.6
Dr. Nedo Nora
Politics and medicine don't mix.
(1977, Oct 5), The Providence Journal, p.A20"Institutions like Ladd should no
longer exist."
Perl, P. (1979, Feb 5) The Providence Journal
THIRD ADMINISTRATION

Mr. George Gunther, Jr.
"It's a disgrace for people to live here."
(1977, Oct 9) The Providence Journal, p.C1
Mr. James Healey
"I can't say it's illegal incerceration, but in our opinion it's incarceration."
(1977, Oct 23), The Providence Journal, p.A1
Edward D. DiPrete
"It is with great pride that I announce my decision to close the Dr. Ladd Center."
Fitzpatrick, Colleen (1986, July 31), The Providence Journal Bulletin, p.A3
Dr. Robert L. Carl, Jr.
"The beast is dead."
Miller, G. Wayne (1994, Mar 26) The Providence Journal Bulletin, p.1