Elizabeth Packard

Elizabeth Packard
Born
Elizabeth Parsons Ware

(1816-12-28)28 December 1816
Died25 July 1897(1897-07-25) (aged 80)
Known forWrongful involuntary commitment
Movement
  • Women's rights
  • Anti-Insane Asylum Society
SpouseTheophilus Packard
Children6

Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard (28 December 1816 25 July 1897), also known as E.P.W. Packard, was an American advocate for the rights of women and people perceived to have insanity. She was wrongfully committed to an insane asylum by her husband, who claimed that she had been insane for more than three years. At her trial, however, a jury concluded that she was not insane after only seven minutes of deliberation. She later founded the Anti-Insane Asylum Society, campaigning for divorced women to retain custody of their children.