The book was based on articles written while Bly was on an undercover assignment for the New York World, feigning insanity at a women's boarding house, so as to be involuntarily committed to an insane asylum. U Penn Digital Library. Bly, Nellie. The paper’s publisher, impressed by the letter’s moxie, asked the author to reveal his or her identity. Despite the rumors of abuses at the asylum, Bly was . Bly, born Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, was arguably the most groundbreaking, significant female journalists of 19th century, if not of all time. The park reopened in 2007 under new management, renamed "Adventurers Amusement Park". The list of atrocious behaviour by those in a position of care is endless. Nellie Bly The New York World/October 16, 1887 Nellie Bly's Experience in the Blackwell's Island Asylum Continuation of the Story of Ten Days With Lunatics How the City's Unfortunate Wards Are Fed and Treated The Terrors of Cold Baths and Cruel, Unsympathetic Nurses Attendants Who Harass and Abuse Patients and Laugh at Their Miseries Doctors… Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell’s Island? "In my time, women usually had their life stories written for them. Bly’s passage about this specifically inane treatment highlights the most basic problem with these institutions, that they create the insanity which they supposedly treat: I was never so tired as I grew sitting on those benches. Anne Neville explains that she had been a poor chambermaid, but had gotten sick, and was sent to a Sister’s Home to be treated. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A new monument honoring pioneering journalist Nellie Bly is open to the public on Roosevelt Island. She wandered the halls and nearby streets, refused to sleep, ranted and yelled incoherently, and even practiced looking “crazed” in her mirror. She also became renowned for her investigative and undercover reporting, including posing as a sweatshop worker to expose poor working conditions faced by women. Bly suffered a tragic loss in 1870, at the age of six, when her father died suddenly. (Ch. "Nellie Mareno, the girl whom Judge Duffy on Nov. 26 sent to the insane asylum on Blackwell's Island, has been restored to her friends in an improved mental condition. Bly’s piece is important to remember because it opens the conversation about the actual treatment of people deemed “insane,” and the irresponsible manner in which so-called professionals diagnose and treat them. The author also recommends Ten Days a Madwoman, by Deborah Noyes (February 2016) for biographical information on Bly, as well as a summary of her asylum piece and her trip around the world. It's called "The Girl Puzzle" after Bly's first published work . Bly’s editor suggested she have herself committed to the asylum for 10 days to expose the real conditions, and Bly immediately agreed. Journalist Nellie Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885. Her willingness and her fearlessness in all areas of her life led her to volunteer as an undercover investigator of the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island during her first year reporting for the New York World. In 1887, Bly was able to get herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell's Island, an overcrowded, state-run mental institution. Asylums like Blackwell’s were considered curiosities, where thrill seekers like Charles Dickens and others could visit those thought “mad.” Doctors and staff with little training — and in many cases, little compassion — ordered harsh and brutal treatments that did little to heal, and much to harm. Bly then meets with several doctors, and a kindly judge, who attempt to classify her mental health. . This volume, the only printed and edited collection of Bly’s writings, includes her best known works—Ten Days in a Mad-House, Six Months in Mexico, and Around the World in Seventy-Two Days—as well as many lesser known pieces that ... She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. For years, rumors had swirled about conditions in one of the city’s most notorious places, the “insane asylum” on Blackwell’s Island. In her first assignment, for Joseph Pulitzer, she risked her life going undercover in a "mental asylum" in New York. After leaving the school, she moved with her mother to the nearby city of Pittsburgh, where they ran a boarding house together. An illuminating and enthralling biography of trailblazing 19th-century queer actress Charlotte Cushman reveals the force and vitality of this woman on and off the stage. Bly is regarded by many as America's first investigative journalist. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. Extensive budget cuts had led to a sharp decline in patient care, leaving just 16 doctors on staff. Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Cochran in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, May 1864. Web. For ten days Elizabeth experienced the physical and . Her narrative of the horrors of the place—the indifference of doctors, the neglect and cruelty of the nurses and the tortures inflicted upon the unfortunates, is told in a plain, straightforward manner and attests at once to her humanity ... Bly's most celebrated work, "Ten Days in a Mad-House," is considered the first piece of investigative journalism. Malcolm X was an African American civil rights leader prominent in the Nation of Islam. Nellie Bly was THE BEST REPORTER IN AMERICA and that is saying a good deal. Once determined to admit her, the doctors and women were not going to be convinced otherwise. Nellie Bly was the most famous American woman reporter of the 19th century. This was the age of "stunt" journalism, and Bly's first report was to be an exposé of a women's lunatic asylum. In an effort to accurately expose the conditions at the asylum, she pretended to be a mental patient in order to be committed to the facility, where she lived for 10 days. Web. During her early journalism career, Bly wrote Six Months in Mexico (1888), which describes her time as a foreign correspondent in Mexico in 1885. In the piece, writer Erasmus Wilson (known to Dispatch readers as the "Quiet Observer," or Q.O.) W hen she went undercover in a New York City insane asylum in 1887, Nellie Bly was surrounded by a world of grim horror. Those who complained or resisted were beaten, and Bly even spoke of the threat of sexual violence by vicious, tyrannical staffers. 24 Apr. Patients were no longer treated as inmates who were simply held in asylums so as not be roaming the streets, but were beginning to be treated as patients, who needed medical care. Journalist Nellie Bly Will Receive a Monument on the Grounds of the Asylum She Helped Close. Now known as Roosevelt Island, Blackwell’s was home to a number of public institutions, including a penitentiary, a poorhouse, hospitals for infectious diseases like smallpox, and the asylum. https://www.biography.com/activist/nellie-bly. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck. A bill that was already under consideration, which would increase funding for mental institutions, was pushed through, adding nearly $1 million ($24 million in today’s money) to the departmental budget. Her first articles on her experiences were published within days, and the series became a publishing sensation. Her major claim to fame, however— and her first major investigation — is her exposé of New York’s Blackwell’s Island Asylum. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an early leader of the woman's rights movement, writing the Declaration of Sentiments as a call to arms for female equality. Journalist and reformer Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known as Nellie Bly (1864-1922), gained fame at the end of the nineteenth century for her investigative reports of abusive conditions in the cities of Pittsburgh and New York. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. After Nellie Bly's investigation was published, a grand jury was impaneled to investigate the abuses and poor treatments she uncovered at the asylum. . Nellie Bly The New York World/October 9, 1887 The Mystery of the Unknown Insane Girl Remarkable Story of the Successful Impersonation of Insanity How Nellie Brown Deceived Judges, Reporters and Medical Experts She Tells Her Story of How She Passed at Bellevue Hospital ON the 22d of September I was asked by The World if… She completed the trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds—setting a real-world record, despite her fictional inspiration for the undertaking. Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the opening of The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan. The middle chunk of the exposé then takes care to detail every part of Bly’s first day in the asylum, which all nine days afterward echoed. The book comprised Bly's reportage for the New York World while on an undercover assignment in which she feigned insanity at a women's boarding house, so as to be involuntarily committed to an insane asylum. Bly now claimed to be a Cuban immigrant, suffering from amnesia. 'Ten Days in a Mad-House' Working for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, Bly gained national fame for her undercover work as a patient in a women's mental asylum in New York City. Nellie Bly was a nationally significant journalist at the New York World. Originally built to hold 1,000 patients, Blackwell was cramming more than 1,600 people into the asylum when Bly arrived in the fall of 1887. 6–11). Once there, she stops “acting insane” and simply acts as herself. The next morning the patients and their still-damp hair are brutally combed, as forty-five women share two nurses and six combs (Ch. The two women form an unlikely bond, as they both struggle to remain . . .Wayne's Faithful Sweetheart! Bonus feature: This volume includes Bly's New York World articles that inspired her novels! Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran (she later added an "e" to the end of her name) on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania. Thus, starting off her truly profound career and made her one of the most famous investigative journalists of all time. Others that Bly met at Blackwell’s, and Bellevue Hospital before, had fallen through the cracks of a society with few social safety nets, ending up committed simply for being poor, with no family to support them. A timely reminder to take notice of forgotten populations, Ten Days in a Mad-House warns us what happens when we look away. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the authors. 2016. It would be lovely if it was, but we all know by now that change, specifically in the treatment of marginalized citizens, takes a very long time. Unfortunately, the hospital and its staff had been tipped off in advance. Get ready to journey around the world with Nellie Bly--one of America's first investigative journalists. This collection has all of the following works: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days Six Months In Mexico Ten Days in a Mad-House: Nellie Bly's Experience on Blackwell's Island. By Susannah Cahalan. Nellie Bly: Ten Days Behind Asylum Bars. Since Bly’s time at Blackwell’s, psychological illnesses and treatments have gone through an interesting journey. When they arrived, the asylum had been given some notice of their approach even though they shouldn’t have, and they were definitely prepared for the visit. The World features section front page nameplate Oct. 16, 1887. Nellie Bly was the most famous American woman reporter of the 19th century. In 1895, Bly married millionaire industrialist Robert Seaman, who was 40 years her senior, and she became legally known as Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman. A Feigned Madness is a meticulously researched, fictionalized account of the woman who would come to be known as daredevil reporter Nellie Bly. Mrs. Stanard, the matron of the boardinghouse, claims that Brown’s pupils “have been enlarged ever since she came to the home…they have not changed once,” to which Nellie thinks “I wondered how she knew whether they had or not, but I kept quiet” (Ch. In 1889, the paper sent her on a trip around the world in a record-setting 72 days. Two years later, Bly moved to New York City and began working for the New York World. Web. A new monument honoring journalist Nellie Bly opened to the public in New York on Friday. N.p., n.d. While there, Bly meets another woman who is to be examined, a Miss Anne Neville. Selected highlight from this collection: Panorama of Blackwell's Island, N.Y. World War History: Newspaper Clippings, 1914 to 1926 World War History: Daily Records and Comments as Appeared in American and Foreign Newspapers, 1914-1926. However, not long after beginning her courses there, financial constraints forced Bly to table her hopes for higher education. One of the most famous figures in medical history, the nurse's groundbreaking achievements in handwashing, hygiene and sanitation helped revolutionize medicine. In Bly’s best known work, she spent 10 days as a patient in an insane asylum. All these tales and more are collected in this large anthology. Note: The book includes Bly’s best known works, but not all of her articles. In 1887, intrepid reporter Nellie Bly pretended she was crazy and got herself committed, all to help improve conditions in a New York City mental institution. Newly discovered by author David Blixt (What Girls Are Good For, The Master Of Verona), Nellie Bly's lost works of fiction are now available for the first time! Complete with the original artwork! These are The Lost Novels of Nellie Bly! 25-26. She was a pioneer in investigative journalism. After Bly’s publication hit the stands — and shocked and enthralled her readers — a grand jury launched an investigation into conditions of the asylum, even asking Bly to accompany them on a visit to the premises. For several hours of the day the patients are made to sit still on benches, as apparently thinking up actual therapeutic or enjoyable activities is too challenging for the doctors. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A new monument honoring pioneering journalist Nellie Bly is open to the public on Roosevelt Island. Bly later enrolled at the Indiana Normal School, a small college in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she studied to become a teacher. Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran in 1864, is possibly the most well-known female name in journalism. READ MORE: Inside Nellie Bly’s 10 Days in a Madhouse. To her horror, Bly quickly realized that while many of these inmates were not suffering from mental illnesses before they arrived at the asylum, their treatments inflicted grave psychological damage on them. Manhattan Institute, 23 Dec. 2015. In conjunction with one of her first assignments for the World, she spent several days on Blackwell's Island, posing as a mental patient for an exposé. 10–11). Report: "Behind Asylum Bars" and "Inside the Madhouse" - Nellie Bly - New York World Asylums Undercover. Her wet hair and skin then make her bed sheets and pillow as wet and cold as she is, and the single wool blanket she is provided is too short to cover her feet and shoulders at the same time (Ch. Fresh food and water had been brought in, and the asylum itself had been scrubbed down. 13–14). Sussex Publishers, 18 Sept. 2015. 6). Bolstered by continuous coverage in the World, Bly earned international stardom for her months-long stunt, and her fame continued to grow after she safely returned to her native state and her record-setting achievement was announced. A portrait of the pioneer of investigative journalism recounts her daring exploits--such as feigning insanity in order to get herself committed to a lunatic asylum so she could expose its horrid conditions. 17,500 first printing. 5 Apr. Nellie Bly was a world-traveling investigative journalist who used her career to shed light on the horrors of urban life and break gender stereotypes. In 2015, director Timothy Hines released 10 Days in a Madhouse, which also depicts Bly's harrowing experience in the asylum. What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Her goal was to report on the conditions of the asylum, which were long-rumored to be inhumane. Possibly the best part about Lana Winters' character is that she's based on the very real Nellie Bly. Out of sight, out of mind is an all-too appropriate idiom to apply to the plight of the mentally ill, so we need vivid works such as Nellie Bly’s to remind us of what is happening while we look away. Why did Nellie Bly use a pen name? Irish American Nellie Bly led a daring career as an investigative journalist that included feigning madness to expose abuse at an NYC asylum and completing a round-the-world journey in 72 days in . She is daunted by the task of convincing others she is crazy enough to be admitted, but she soon learns that it is really not that hard. Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran in 1864, is possibly the most well-known female name in journalism. Within days, the boarding house owners summoned the police. Nellie Bly is the pen name of the famous, American, female journalist, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. Nellie Bly was known for her pioneering journalism, including her 1887 exposé on the conditions of asylum patients at Blackwell's Island in New York City and her report of her 72-day trip around . The story of Nellie Bly, the pen name of a young reporter named Elizabeth Cochran, has been told and retold ever since she burst onto the scene in 1887. She would be released after 10 days, but what she experienced and saw in that time would shock the nation’s readers and lead to a new-found pressure to inspect the conditions and practices of asylums across the nation. First, they take Bly to Bellevue Hospital for further “examinations.” These prove to be nothing more than some questions a doctor asks her, questions which seem to mean nothing as the doctor and the nurses are already treating Brown like a lost cause. And much of this has to do with her firsthand account of life in an insane asylum. "On the 22nd of September I was asked by THE WORLD if I could have myself committed to one of the . Burton, Neel. It's called "The Girl Puzzle" after Bly's first published work. The monument was designed by Amanda Matthews of Prometheus Art to illuminate women who have endured hardship but are stronger for it. Faced with such dwindling finances, Bly consequently re-entered the newspaper industry. She chose Nellie Bly, a character in a popular song by composer Stephen Foster. However, Bly became increasingly limited in her work at the Pittsburgh Dispatch after her editors moved her to its women's page, and she aspired to find a more meaningful career. Bly is regarded by many as America's first investigative journalist. Bly's celebrity reached an international level with her mission to travel around the world in 80 days, just as the character Phileas Fogg did in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. 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