In the 1950s and 60s, the Hogg Foundation was a key player in a coordinated campaign of overlapping efforts to modernize the mental health infrastructure in Texas.
Following the successes of the 54th and 55th legislative sessions, in 1955 and 1957, during which a number of important reforms were passed, the Hogg Foundation commissioned two reports intended to assess both the gains achieved and the work remaining to do.
In her introduction to the first of those reports, The Turning Key, program officer Bert Kruger Smith explained, "It is you and your neighbor, and his neighbor, too who can mold the master key which will open all doors. She continued this metaphor in the second report, The Opening Door: "An opening door can mean many things. To the mentally ill confined in hospitals, an open door is a symbol--a symbol of advanced ideas in the care of the mentally sick. Whereas once people were confined behind locked doors and barred windows, whereas they they were often "sentenced" to custodial care for life, they now are regarded as sick people for whom intensive treatment and care can mean early return to homes and communities."