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In 1845, Cumberland
County Senator Stephen Ayres Garrison battled on the floor of the New Jersey
Senate to recognize the needs and rights of mentally retarded children.
Although his attempt to secure the establishment of a State institution to care
for the feeble-minded failed, a provision was made by the legislature for the care of
such children at Elwyn, Pennsylvania.
In 1897, S. Olin Garrison
began a program that was the precursor to The Training School at Vineland.
After observing the behavior of two feebleminded pupils, Garrison founded a
school for these students in his Millville home (below). The school grew in
popularity, and soon Garrison could no longer handle the amount of admission
requests he was receiving. In 1888, when the Vineland Philanthropist B. D.
Maxham offered Garrison 
40 acres and the attached
Scarborough Mansion, Garrison gladly accepted and relocated the school to the
Vineland site.
March 1, 1888 marked the official opening of The
Vineland Training School. The original name was ‘The New Jersey Home for the
Education and Care of Feebleminded Children,’ and by the end of the first year
was home to 55 boys and girls. The school was the first of its kind.
In 1892, the school
introduced ‘The Cottage Plan,’ a method of organizing the community into small
cottages as opposed to large institutional dormitories. This plan was created
in the spirit of Garrison’s belief that The Training School’s methods should be
geared towards teaching its residents practical living skills, instead of making
its inhabitants helplessly dependent on the institution (see Mission to learn
more).
Early
Years (1900- 1945)
In 1900, Professor Edward R.
Johnstone became head of The New Jersey Training School (its official name as
of 1893) following the death of Reverend Garrison. In 1906, Johnstone created
The Psychological Research Laboratory—the first facility in America
specifically dedicated to the study of 
mental deficiency. Under the
direction of Henry H. Goddard (right), the laboratory made many breakthrough
advancements in the field of mental science.
During this period, The
Training School became the world’s leading authority on the study of mental
disease. Between 1905-1908, Goddard supervised the English translation of the
Binet IQ test at the Research Laboratory, and commenced testing on Training
School residents. The standardization of the test was then performed in 1911 on
2,000 Vineland Public School students. The successful use of the IQ test at the
Research Laboratory initiated the mental testing movement in the United States
and around the world.
In 1912, Goddard published a
book called The Kallikak Family, A Study in the Hereditary of
Feeble-mindedness, which discussed the findings of a hereditary study
conducted at the institution. Although the book’s validity is questionable (see
Goddard and Eugenics), the book was groundbreaking in that it linked mental
disease and heredity. In 1913 the school initiated the Extension Department
that spread the Training School’s research throughout the world. In this same
year, 3 members of the Training School Staff, headed by Goddard, were sent to
Ellis Island at the request of the U.S Government to perform mental tests on
immigrants.
In 1918, Goddard resigned and
S.D. Porteus was appointed his successor as Director of Research. Porteus began
research on various topics, including cephalometrey (the study of head
measurement and its relation to feeblemindedness) the Binet tests, and X rays.
Edgar A. Doll succeeded Porteus in 1925. Under Doll, the Research Laboratory
made more breakthroughs in the areas of birth injuries, EEG brain wave methods,
and adaptive behavior. Doll’s concept of adaptive behavior was very
significant, and has remained the basis of the definition of mental retardation
to this day. Another of Doll’s significant contributions came in 1935, when
Doll published the Vineland Social Maturity Scale, which was eventually adopted
for military use in 1941. When Doll resigned in 1945, the School was well
established on both a national and international level.
A Vast Scope
During it’s early years, The
Training School was world-renowned for its mental studies. But not only did The Training School carry
out vast research in the field of mental deficiency, including the areas of
feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, paidology (the scientific study of children),
heredity, biochemistry, neuropathology, clinical psychology, metabolism, blood
chemistry, photomicroscopy, cephalometry (the study of head measurement),
idiocy, criminology, speech pathology, birth injury, electroencephalography
(EEG brain wave methods), and more, but the school also researched a wide
variety of topics outside the range of mental studies.
In 1905, The Training School
researched peach growing with the New Jersey State Experimental Station and
grape growing with the US Department of Agriculture. In 1916, as a result of
the tremendous impact the poultry industry had on Vineland, the school
facilitated an International Egg Laying contest to determine the best lines of
poultry breeding. A second grape growing test with the US Department of
Agriculture began in 1917, which comprised of 10 acres and made use of 80
varieties of grapes. In addition, the school conducted an irrigation experiment
in conjunction with the US Department of Agriculture in 1926.
The school also made
significant contributions to the US Military. In 1917, the Committee of the
American Psychological Association met at the Training School and devised Army
Intelligence Tests that were used in World War I. At the outbreak of America’s
involvement in World War II in 1941, the Vineland Social Maturity Scale (a
scale that measures a individual’s ability to adapt to his or her surroundings)
was adopted for military use. This scale set a worldwide precedent and is still
in use today.
Additionally, The Training
School’s research staff acted as an advisor to the Chilean government on
special education in 1929, another landmark achievement for the Training
School.
Later Years (1945-Present)
In 1945, Professor Johnstone
died, thus ending his prolific 45-year term as superintendent of The Training
School. Dr. Walter Jacobs assumed his position, and continued research in the
areas of remedial reading, motor proficiency, and character development. In
1950, Pearl S. Buck, a nationally famous author whose feeble-minded child
attended the Training School, published an article in Ladies Home Journal
and Reader’s Digest, which recounted the tale of her feeble-minded
daughter and her experience at Vineland. The article, entitled “The Child Who
Never Grew,” went on to be published in 13 languages and gave the school
considerable publicity.
In 1953, the school received
a $20,000 research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, and
continued various research projects in the coming years. 1963 marked the 75th
anniversary of the Training School. In 1965, the school’s name was changed to
‘American Institute for Mental Studies- The Training School Unit,’ also known
as AIMS.
The Division of Emotional
Disturbance was established within the Research Laboratory in 1970, in order to
develop specialized treatment programs for the emotionally disturbed. Dr.
Jacobs’ retired in 1974, Dr. William Smith took his place as the new
superintendent.
To avoid closure of the
facility, Elwyn Institutes of Media, Pennsylvania assumed management of the
Training School in 1981. A
multi-million dollar campus redevelopment plan ensued, which succeeded in
restoring the school’s dilapidated campus. In 1988, the historic name ‘The
Training School at Vineland’ was restored. In coming years, the school expanded
operations to include many new community facilities. 1995, another significant
change occurred, when Elwyn commenced efforts to move its residents off campus
and into community-based group homes. The transition process was completed on
August 23, 1996. As of 1998, The Training School has 43 group homes in South
Jersey.
Related Links
·
Historical Timeline- Timeline of historical events at
the school.
·
Goddard and Eugenics- Henry H. Goddard and his
beliefs……
·
Stanley D. Porteus- Biographical information in timeline form on the sucessor to Dr. Goddard.