Image courtesy of the Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick, NJ
Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802-1887) sent a memorial to the New Jersey legislature in 1845 stating her case for reforms in the care of the mentally ill. Her research and advocacy resulted in the building of the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum at Trenton in 1848. The first such care facility in the state, it was a model for the humane care of the mentally ill.