So in 1953, when the National Mental Health Association asked asylums around the country to mail in any shackles or chains they’d previously used, Maryland leaders were eager to take part. It was a public declaration that restraint, fear, and incarceration would have no place in mental hospitals. On April 13 of that year, socialites and politicians, including Governor Theodore McKeldin of Maryland, convened at the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore. Together they melted down all of the chains and restraints received during the campaign and turned them into a 300-pound Mental Health Bell. It was
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