The Fake Three-Sided Key. Patient-Fabricated Duplicate Keys in Psychiatry around 1900

Abstract

This paper analyses the historical importance of objects in psychiatry – particularly their use in the contemporary teaching and training of nurses – with reference to a collection of duplicate keys from the Waldau clinic near Berne. The collection consists of approximately 90 objects, made by patients with the aim of using them to escape. The psychiatrist Walter Morgenthaler (1882–1965) collected these keys at the beginning of the 20th century, attached them to plates, gave them patients’ record numbers and used them for teaching. In these patient’s records, stories of the keys can be found. For the first time, these records allow for an analysis of the keys in the context of material culture.