The Pineland Center opened in the early 1900s as the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. It was renamed several times through the years as the Maine Home for the Feeble-Minded, Pownal State School, Pineland Hospital and Training Center, and finally Pineland Center. Although the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the 1970s alleging abuse of patients, the Pineland Center did not close until 1996.
In December 1911, the State of Maine committed seven members of the Marks family and Mrs. Annie Parker in the Maine School for the Feeble Minded (later called Pineland). At the time, they were residents of Malaga Island, a small island community off the coast of Phippsburg. The State of Maine had purchased Malaga Island a month before and ordered the eviction of the island’s residents. The Malaga Island residents were institutionalized based on intelligence tests commonly used within the Eugenics Movements. Their patient files include their commitment papers, medical diagnosis, patient history, and family Eugenics charts. The Binet test for intelligence was given to each family member and was commonly used in similar institutions throughout the nation. Two members of the Marks family were eventually released from the Maine School for the Feeble Minded; all other family members died there.
These records reflect the treatment practices and terminology of the time. Some of the language and treatments are not considered acceptable today and may be uncomfortable for some readers. Recognizing that historical medical terms do not always completely or directly map to contemporary terms, that historical terms can be offensive or inaccurately characterize a condition, and that the presence of both historical and contemporary terms may be useful for researcher discovery, archivists have attempted to employ contemporary terms as they appear in the context of the collection in the description where possible.
Pineland case files are confidential for 75 years plus 50 years following a patient's death. For records in this series to be available for public research, the record must meet both of the following criteria: Confidentiality rules apply to archival records until they have been inactive for 75 years; after this period they are available for public access. (Title 5, Part 1, Chapter 6, §95-C, C). Records containing medical information may be made available for research purposes 50 years after the death of the subject. Documentation of the death date must be provided by the requestor.
