Dorothea Dix correspondence
Creator: Dix, Dorothea Lynde, 1802-1887
Date: undated, circa 1826-1963 (bulk 1853-1860s)
Dorothea Dix's papers consist of correspondence from Miss Dix to various people, as well as some correspondence in which Miss Dix was concerned, but not directly involved. Dix was an advocate for social welfare, particularly supporting the establishment and maintenance of mental hospitals for the mentally ill, disabled, or poor. She was instrumental in the proposed legislation of the "Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane." During the Civil War, Dix was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses. Much of the correspondence concerns Dix's efforts to bring lifeboats and other help to Sable Island in Nova Scotia, an area known for shipwrecks and where many with mental illnesses were sent, sometimes against their will. These papers are part of the historic psychiatry material in the Menninger Archives.

Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence, Crippled Children Commission
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1929-1931 : Reed)
Date: 1928-1931
This file includes topical correspondence relating to the crippled children commission which is part of a bigger collection of Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence.

Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence, Kansas State Legislation
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1929-1931 : Reed)
Date: 1929-1931
This file includes subject correspondence relating to the Kansas State Legislation. Topics included but not limited to in the file is state legislation appointments, taxation and disability pension. This file is part of a bigger collection of Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence.

Governor Robert Docking proclamation
Creator: Docking, Robert Blackwell, 1925-1983
Date: April 5, 1974
Governor Robert B. Docking of Topeka, Kansas, issued this proclamation declaring April, 1974, the Legal Rights for Retarded Citizens Month. The proclamation affirms the legal rights of retarded persons to be the same as of other human beings, and outlines the manner in which such rights may be restricted, if necessary. Requests from the President's Committee on Mental Retardation of Washington, D.C. and Rainbows United, Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, prompted the proclamation. The disability rights movement became increasingly more visible in the 1970s as an extension of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. By 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act sought to extend to disabled persons the same legal protections against discrimination available to other minorities under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.