ABSTRACT
This paper raises a series of historiographical issues about the nature of lunatic asylum archives. It addresses one central thread, namely the relationship between the phenomenology of mental illness, and the many kinds of records in which it is reflected. It suggests that there is a fundamental paradox involved in the rational, orderly and coherent representation of mental illness generated by lunatic asylum bureaucracy, and the chaotic multiplicity of the lived experience of patients, many suffering from illnesses that involved irrational, disordered and incoherent states of mind. The paper begins by raising as background the relationship between thought, language and experience, and ways in which this defies straightforward representation in clinical case histories. It goes on to examine aspects of lunatic asylum archives, including statistics, correspondence and case records, and ways in which these might either mislead, or fictionalize histories of these institutions. It suggests that archival work, particularly with respect to capturing the complexity and emotional violence of these institutions might require historians to 'dream the archive'. This is the work of disciplined imagination that might act as a guide in traversing deeply irrational territory. The paper ends by highlighting several issues that historians of lunatic asylums might address.
