Holy Innocents: An Oral History of Religion at an Institution for the Developmentally Disabled

• In Event: OHA Poster Session and Project Bazaar

Abstract

The Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center in Waltham, Massachusetts was the first publicly funded institution in the Western Hemisphere designed to care for individuals with developmental disabilities. Throughout its history, the state school provided an active religious space for its patients, staff and the surrounding communities. The personal recollections of religion at the Fernald however, have faded with the institution’s closure in late 2014.

The latter half of the 20th century saw shifts in technologies and protocol in caring for the developmentally disabled, leading to the Fernald’s obsolescence, as staff could no longer keep up with the legal demands associated with patient care. These challenges are now mirrored by impediments in creating a narrative history of the institution due to patient confidentiality laws in Massachusetts. Thus, the collection of oral histories has become one of the most essential means for documenting the history of the Fernald. Further, efforts to publicize the project will offer the prospect of locating others associated with the Fernald Developmental Center to contribute their stories about the state school and its religiosity.

The project presentation will focus around a captivating video compilation of the currently collected oral history interviews discussing the active religious life at the Fernald, accompanied with still images from my preliminary assessment of the site. These interviews included former chaplains, former volunteers, and former family members of residents. A poster will also accompany the video to display images of the campus both in its heyday and in its present state.

I am seeking to share these preliminary findings on the religious life at the Fernald Developmental Center at the Oral History Association Conference in October and discuss potential approaches for launching a broader oral history project in the future with scholars who have undertaken similar work.

Authors

• Ashlynn Rickord, Harvard Divinity School

• Laurence Green, Harvard Business School