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Foxborough native to speak at Sharon Historical Society
Tue Feb 27, 2007, 09:37 AM EST
Sharon -Noted author, historian, and Foxborough native, Jack Authelet, will speak Thursday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the Sharon Historical Society’s quarterly meeting in the parish hall of the First Congregational Church of Sharon. Following a brief business meeting beginning Authelet will give a presentation titled, “The Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates and its successor, the Foxboro State Hospital.”
As the state assumed a more direct involvement in the social welfare needs of the Commonwealth in 1830, the legislature set out to create state institutions to provide separate and specialized care for the poor, the mentally ill, blind and deaf. This period for legislating for the common good was unprecedented in our history and reached its peak, in the minds of many, when in 1892 Massachusetts became the first to recognize alcoholism as a treatable disease. The creation of the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates was a bold experiment and the entire nation was watching that individual states might make their own assessments as to the results. The Commonwealth had charted a path into the unknown, creating a most unusual chapter in state history that will be detailed in this illustrated lecture.
Authelet is a longtime member of the Foxborough Historical Commission and is now commissioner emeritus and the town’s first official town historian. His historical articles have appeared for nearly 40 years in the Foxboro Reporter for which he was managing editor for 18 years and a columnist for 36 years. He has published four books on Foxborough history and has two more that will be published soon, one being on the subject of this presentation. Authelet is looking forward to the opportunity to present this program in Sharon; he will be able to bring everyone up to date on the latest restoration efforts of the original part of what area residents know as the former Foxborough State Hospital.
The Sharon Historical Society welcomes the public; admission is free. For further information call the Sharon Historical Society at 781-784-9966.
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