Thank you for your interest in this research project on the Ottawa County Poor Farm.
In an effort to respect the residents who were listed as having disabilities, we use current terms/words to refer to their physical, mental, and/or intellectual disabilities instead of the actual historical terms/words that appear in the sources.
This language does not reflect our diagnosis of those disabilities, but rather approximates how the conditions would have been classified using today’s terminology. There is no way to confirm how the residents' disabilities were diagnosed or assessed, so each category of disability is broad.
While we value historical accuracy and transparency, we also value the memories and stories of all the individuals (named and unnamed) in our project, and believe that everyone (disabled and nondisabled) should be accorded an equal degree of respect.
In addition, while the sources are public records, there are instances in which the names of residents (and those of their relatives) have been redacted.
This is a work in progress, and we welcome comments.