Willard Suitcases / Madeline C / UTMB
I apologize for the long gap in posting about the suitcases. It has been an incredibly busy time. I have been devoting most of my mental energy getting prepared for a series of talks at the University of Texas Medical Branch that are scheduled for next week. This is a huge honor for me, as I will be a visiting Osler scholar. When I was in Galveston in 2016 presenting to NAMI Gulfcoast I was approached by Dr. Dwight Wolf about returning to speak at UT to the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences department. Cristine and I fly out on Sunday (weather dependent), and there are events scheduled for the whole week.
Here is a rundown.
Monday the 15th – I’ll be speaking about the suitcases and my other work at the Galveston Arts Center from 6-8 pm.
Tuesday the 16th – Osler Club Grand Rounds, Temple B’nai Israel, 3008 Avenue O, Galveston. I believe this is open to the public but reservations are required.
Earlier that day I will present the project to residents at UTMB. This is not open to the public.
Wednesday the 17th – IMH Colloquium at UTMB during the lunch hour. Jennie Sealy Hospital. This might be open to the public, I’m not sure.
That evening I’ll be speaking at the Galveston Historical Foundation about the suitcases and my other documentary institutional work. 6-7 pm at Menard Hall, 3302 Avenue O, Galveston.
Thursday the 18th – There is an open mic event with Dr. Steve Fisher with a display of photographs of both of our work. Dr. Fisher has been photographing the collection of medical specimens at UTMB. Should be interesting. 3rd Floor Old Red. I’ve been told it is an amazing building.
That’s it for now. Thanks for following.
An Interesting Day or Two
Yesterday I took the train from Stratford upon Avon to Marylebone London. It was raining.
I made it with plenty of time to spare to make the 5.30 kickoff for the Fulham v Derby County match (ended in a 1-1 draw, but still fun).
After the match I walked back to my hotel past my favorite row of houses. Most of them have these amazing stained glass doors. Mind blowingly beautiful.
This morning I had a bit of a plan that started in Bishop’s Park.
I wanted to walk past the Cottage again. Last night, I entered the ground through door 36. Quite narrow.
I really like these graphic tiles set into the pavements along the Thames Walk. Especially the smell lines coming out of the poo.
Next stop was The Dove in Hammersmith for a pint of ESB. Nice
I started inside in the tiny bar and then moved to the deck out back.
Just before I got to my ultimate destination (next photo), I got a text from Cris at home telling me to call immediately. This is why; a giant fookin’ tree had fallen on my Element, and had knocked over my Vespa. I think the Element might just be toast, but the Vespa could be ok. Kind of put a damper on things.
Many years ago John Wilson surprised me at the end of a very long walk along the Thames with this view.
Here is a closer look at the Naked Ladies of Twickenham.
And another.
I made it back to the Dove for more beer and a Sunday roast. Tomorrow I have some meetings with folks interested in the suitcase project. V exciting.
Anna Lucille Earley, Willard Nurse
I got a call a few weeks ago from Craig Williams telling me that a trunk had been discovered in the attic of the Covert Funeral Home in Ovid, NY that belonged to a woman who was a nurse at Willard in the early part of the 20th Century.
At that time Craig wasn’t too sure of many of the details but thought I might be interested if anything came of it.
Craig has been working at the Romulus Historical Society with Peggy Ellsworth who worked at Willard and has been a great friend to the suitcases project. Peg has been the go-to person for all things Willard since the institution closed in 1995.
Last Friday Paul McPherson who is the current director of the funeral home brought the trunk to the historical society for Craig and Peg to have a look. They were really enthused and Craig called to see if I could take a few photos as he unpacked the items and started to conserve and catalogue the collection.
The contents of the trunk are in great shape, and it is amazing to see how well preserved the items are.
I love seeing these old commercial products in their early packaging.
There were several mounted photographs in the trunk, as well as this envelope which contain a large number of photographic negatives.
Craig scanned a few and the quality is amazing.
The Willard baseball team was almost certainly made up of staff, and not patients. But one has to wonder if any of the patients ever made it onto the diamond.
I think this scan was from a print. In addition to having worked at Willard as a nurse, she was a graduate of the institution’s school of nursing. Craig and Peg are looking at the images to try to figure out which one in the photos is Anna. None are identified on the back, so it might be quite a job.
The above photo is especially exciting, as the building in the background is the sheltered workshop where the suitcases were stored in the attic and were rediscovered in 1995. The collection of cases dates from 1910 to 1965 and Anna was at Willard starting in the late teens, so it is very likely that she worked with some of the owners.
As we found in many of the suitcases there is a broad range of items in Anna’s trunk; she had saved things that can tell a fairly complete story of her life, and more broadly, what life at Willard was like in the 1920s.
This box contains a lot of personal correspondence, including some very interesting postcards.
It took a minute to figure out this one.
It became clear once we saw the “soldier’s mail” postmark. Let’s hope H. C. Norris made it through the war safely.
As a nurse at Willard, she would have lived on the grounds and received her mail there.
This inscription is especially touching and a bit mysterious.
Craig and I didn’t have much time to go through the notebooks, but this is a huge trove of original source material that will be interesting to study once everything is catalogued.
Perhaps the most intriguing is this small diary from 1918 which contains day to day accounts of Anna’s life at Willard. To the left is a playbill for “Farmer’s Daughter” which played at Hadley Hall on the Willard grounds.
Anna’s Student’s Note Book is pretty interesting.
Her hand writing is very readable. I didn’t see any crossed out sections as I flipped through the pages.
This small brooch is pretty.
The trunk itself is is great shape.
Anna is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Ovid. Craig took this photo of her gravestone.
The Romulus Historical Society will be putting an exhibit together of the trunk and contents sometime soon. The museum is located in the town of Willard and is only open until the end of September. It is not clear if anything will happen before then, but Peggy is eager for the collection to see the light of day. I’ll update here when I know details. There is obviously a ton of work to be done researching Anna’s life, but this is really an amazing find.
Special thanks go to Paul McPherson for contacting the historical society with this incredible look into the life of Anna. A find like this really brings history alive. It will be interesting to see what develops once everything is conserved and catalogued. And as always thanks to Peggy Ellsworth for her tireless work in remembering the patients and staff at Willard, and to Craig Williams for keeping me in the loop.
Willard Suitcases / Chapin House / NAMI Waco
I took this photo in the early 1980s at the very beginning of my connection with Willard. It is still one of my favorites from the “Silent Voices” project.
Here are a few shots from my recent uploads to the suitcases site.
I’m not exactly sure what the white fabric object is in Kenneth Q’s case, but it is interesting. The orange toothbursh is kind of nice.
Elizabeth C’s dress is so beautiful.
The cotton fabric is soft and wonderful.
There are 3 different places on the above photograph where I had to obscure Amelia’s surname, and it still makes me sad every time I have to do so. The Office of Mental Health pr guy told me a few years ago that it was necessary due to the stigma of mental illness. It is precisely that attitude that prolongs that stigma; the Willard patients deserve to be recognized as being more than just patients at a New York State asylum.
On Wednesday, I fly to Texas to present the suitcases project at a dinner sponsored by NAMI Waco. Here is a link to the event. If you are in the area, it would be great to see you and make a connection.
Thanks for following.
D.C.
It is always a treat to be in D.C. The weather was perfect for baseball yesterday. Peter and I copped a couple of $5.00 seats (section 401, row M, seats 1 and 2). As far away from home plate as you can get, but for us, the best view in the house.
I have posted a Sulgrave Manor photo before, but I am always drawn to this particular entry. I really like this part of Connecticut Avenue. It was a lovely evening for a walk. So much is in bloom and the temperature is perfect.
Wishing all you Massachusetts residents a relaxing Patriots’ Day tomorrow. And to everyone, a happy and productive week.
Kilmainham Gaol / Guinness / Home
Our time in Dublin was limited, and it was difficult to decide what to do for the last day and a half we were there. We were really interested in seeing the historic Kilmainham Gaol, as it was highly recommended. The only way to get in is with a guide, but Brian was really knowledgeable and we learned a ton about the history of Ireland.
My interest in institutional architecture and abandoned buildings goes way back, and it was a treat to be able to walk through this important historic site and have time to photograph.
For me walking through hallways like this is the best way for me to connect with the history of a place.
The building was abandoned for many years and left to deteriorate, but a group largely made up of volunteers has worked for years to make it accessible to the public.
The tour was fairly crowded, but it was pretty easy to hang back and photograph whenever I saw something interesting.
The main hall in the first photograph was built based on an idea of imprisonment that came from the Pentonville prison in England, whereby prisoners were isolated in individual cells rather than thrown together in large rooms. This was meant to foster a more peaceful environment to aid in rehabilitation , but conditions were still quite brutal.
The cross at this end of the yard marks the spot where James Connolly was executed by firing squad. If you get a chance to read about him in the link, the story of his life and death is very moving. I think the best thing about the tour of the gaol is how much Irish history we learned.
After the prison, a trip to the Guinness Brewery seemed like a good idea.
This is an enormous industrial complex in Dublin. Another tour, but this one was self guided but also quite informative.
It was cool to see this little monument to William Sealy Gosset since I had just seen an article in the Times of London about his work on probability and how Nate Silver uses the same basic model to predict US elections. The article is behind a paywall, but you might be able to sign up for a free trial. It is worth a read.
This is the handle of a big safe that held the yeast strain that is still used in making Guinness. / The tour ended with a complimentary pint of the black stuff, which as always, goes down a treat.
We had a few hours on the day we flew home so were able to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College. We were told not to miss it and it was amazing. No photos are allowed in the exhibit, but the tour does include a visit to the Long Room Library.
More crowds, but the room is stunning. Love the marble busts.
Here is old Demosthenes checking things out.
There is an active conservator’s lab that the public can view, and I was reminded of my work on the suitcases as the cotton string used to wrap the books is the same that the New York State Museum used on the cases.
Here is a piece of it tied to the grate that separates the conservators from the public.
We had a bit of time before catching the bus to the airport to walk through St Stephen’s Green and enjoy the beautiful autumn day.
Back home now to return to spending a lot of time editing the suitcases, and to begin reaching out to publishers and museums. Thanks for following.
Durbar Square / Hindu Gods
Cris starts work tomorrow, so today was a day to walk around a bit. The earthquake damage is very obvious with piles of brick everywhere and scaffolding around many buildings.
These shots are all from around Durbar Square.
Cris would gasp just about every time we turned a corner in this part of Kathmandu. She came here first in 1979 as a Peace Corps volunteer, has subsequently come back to work in Nepal on a regular basis, and is really familiar with the city. It is really shocking to see the devastation.
As we were walking back to the hotel I started noticing pictures of Hindu gods that were about 3 feet off the ground and which were spread out about every five yards along a huge brick wall. They are evocative in the odd way that things that attract my attention are. I began taking pictures of them when I saw this next guy, who looked much more contemporary than the rest.
These next two are Krishna.
He is almost always depicted with a cow and a flute.
And often a milkmaid.
This sign was higher up on the wall and Cris was looking at it and smiling as I walked past her. It is amazing to come to a place like Nepal with someone who speaks and reads the language. It basically says, don’t piss or shit on the wall. Which is why the images of the gods are placed just about the height at which a man’s stream would fall. It seems a pretty effective deterrent.
The issue of public defecation is something that the current government has begun to work on (for obvious reasons).
We like Ganesh as he is the remover of obstacles and the patron of the arts and sciences. For some reason, we have always associated him with travel, which is something we do quite often. Finally, here is Hanuman, the monkey god.
Thanks for following. We are a bit sketchy on Hindu lore, so please pardon me if I have gotten anything wrong about the gods.
Bradley Airport Terminal B
Peter and I used to drop off Cristine at this terminal when she would be leaving on some of her long trips to South Asia for work. After she went to her gate he and I would sit on a bench at curbside and record the names and numbers on the shuttle vans as they came past. I still have some of the notebooks that we used all those years ago.
On Friday I drove her to the airport for a brief trip to DC and on the approach road, this is what we saw. I guess I knew that they would be tearing it down at some point, but it was still a bit of a shock. / She flies in later tonight, but I came down early to try to get a shot. The sun went below the horizon within 30 seconds of taking this photo and the light changed completely. It is always amazing to me that a building once so full of activity could be reduced to this. It will be completely gone very soon.
Another Connecticut Avenue Apartment Building
Here’s another Connecticut Avenue apartment building. Clearly of a different era from the ones I posted this morning.
Sulgrave Manor / La Reine
Cris and I are in DC for a few days visiting Peter. There are so many nice apartment buildings along Connecticut Avenue, and these two caught my eye this morning.
These residential prewar buildings are so common throughout the district. They sure don’t build ’em like they used to.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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