Activities, 2003

This collection contains most kinds of media available. Paper documents include correspondence, memos, reports, appendices, brochures, and other ephemera. There are also visual and audiovisual materials, such as photographic prints, CDs, DVDs, strip negatives, slides, and one audiocassette.

The content is part historical, part organizational, and part polemical. It attempts to show the gradual growth of the mental health advocacy movement. From a varied assortment of interested parties there grew a cooperative web of support, for both groups and individuals at odds with what was viewed as the punitive actions of a flawed mental health system. It shows the specific actions and policies taken in their quest to halt or ameliorate forced treatment, and to envision alternative ways of approaching mental health issues.

"Series I: Papers" includes the written works of organizer David W. Oaks. There is a sub-grouping of files labeled "Credibility". These are files which were felt to bolster the organization's message and work. Oaks' writings were published in a variety of organizational publications, as well as mainstream media papers.

"Series II: Administrative records" contains materials reflecting the day-to-day activities and subjects of concern at the organizational level. They cover everything from marches in Washington D.C. to memoranda about the hiring of interns.

"Series III: Issues" contains materials covering the core subjects of mental health advocacy. These include forced institutionalization and medication; psychosurgery such as electroschock and lobotomy; and hopeful alternatives such as community-based group homes and self-help organizations.

"Series IV: Publications" consists primarily of journals of the MFI and allied organizations. Books are a small portion of this series. The earliest publication, "Acting ," was the newsletter of the Mental Health Liberation Front of Boston. David Oaks is credited as being among the original staff. The most prominent of these is "Dendron." Dendron is David Oaks's publication via the Clearinghouse on Human Rights & Psychiatry. He was the creator & editor. Its headquarters was located in Eugene, Oregon. There is normally more than one issue in a file. Some of them are galley proofs. In 2001, with issue number 44, "Dendron" was re-named "MindFreedom Journal." It kept the numbering (though in a different style) for the first issue only. Henceforth issues were listed as a seasonal quarterly, starting with Winter. "State and Mind" was previously known as "RT: A Journal of Radical Therapy." published in Somerville, MA. Issues have been individually foldered.

"Series V: Photographs" includes photographic prints; photocopies of prints; slides; and strip negatives. The strip negatives have been separated from their prints and housed in narrow polypropylene sleeves and paper files. The number of strips is in parentheses. The images are generally grouped by the formula People, Places, and Subjects.

"Series VI: Audiovisual" consists predominantly of discs (CD, CD-R, & DVD), with a VHS and an audiotape included. They cover the organizations' protest actions with collections of photographic images and video.