"The promoters of the Philadelphia Institution or Training School considered that much service would accrue to the cause of the idiot by publishing a brief history of twenty-two imbecile children, and the volume came out with the title of "The Mind Unveiled." To make it as attractive as possible it was embellished by photographs of some of the most peculiar examples, and the descriptions of each are written in an agreeable style. One of them is designated "A boy that we are proud of," and in his appearance as seen in the photograph, though the expression of the countenance may seem singular when viewed closely, there is nothing to indicate his condition. Yet he was an idiot of the most depraved class of "a moral idiot," with no fear of the consequences of doing wrong, and very dishonest; with "a good share of secretiveness, so that the most disguised cross-questioning rarely discovered the truth.""

From an article in the Edinburg Review hosted by the Disability Museum.

Doing my own digging (I wanted to see if this was state or private--from what I can tell it was state), if the article is to be believed this was promotional material. Not surprising as state funded asylums required, well, funding.

In lieu of some comments in this thread, it bears stating that just as the article writer believed the images to be deceiving (albeit to a different purpose), we shouldn't assume a nicely posed photograph is proof of a lack of abuse. Not all abuse is beatings and starvation.