Today is turning into a series of posts about possible partners/exhibits. For those who have a strong community interest in genealogy, local history, or mental health issues, a great exhibit to consider is The Willard Suitcase Exhibit. It is online and also available as an onsite exhibit. It is based on an outstanding book, The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny. The site description on the book is below. There are so many social issues that cross through this book that the topic will resonate in nearly all communities. If you are looking for a thought provoking exhibit, this is it.
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Based on almost 10 years of historical detective work, ... about the lives of 10 people who were committed to Willard State Hospital in New York’s Finger Lakes during the first half of the 20th century. Starting with the belongings left behind in these individuals’ suitcases, the authors sifted through collections of photographs, old letters, diaries, archives, and personal mementos to uncover who these people were before they disappeared for decades behind the institution’s walls. They were artists, soldiers, musicians, teachers, nurses, laborers, and skilled craftsmen who led active, complicated, even fascinating lives before pain, loss, peculiar beliefs, ill-health, poverty, spiritual distress, unseen voices and circumstance intervened. The resulting volume is a fully illustrated social history, a moving—and devastating—group portrait of 20th century American psychiatric care.
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