Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National

Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, the Joseph and

Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines.

I'm Joanne Freeman.

I'm Nathan Connolly.

I'm Ed Ayers.

Nathan, Joanne, our colleague, Brian Ballin, and I are all historians.

Each week, we explore the history of a topic that's been in the news.

Since June is prime vacation time, maybe some of you have downloaded this podcast

for a road trip or for a flight.

So we thought we'd travel with you to some great places.

The only question is, where?

Well, Ed, in the mid-19th century, all you had to do was open up a newspaper

or a magazine to see the hottest tourist attractions.

But one of the destinations might actually surprise you.

No more interesting or profitable expedition can employ a day than a visit to the Lunatic

asylum.

That's right, mental asylum.

A asylum tourism was a widespread and popular phenomenon that attracted thousands of visitors

every year.

...