Yiddish Book Center Virtual Talk
Hi Everyone. I am not posting here on WordPress so much as I mostly am doing instagram (@willardsuitcases) and twitter (@willardsuitcase).
I did want to mention that tomorrow evening, the 2nd of July, I’ll be a part of a Zoom presentation sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center on my new book “What Remains, The Suitcases of Charles F. at the Willard State Hospital”. The book is a collaboration with Ilan Stavans and was officially released today. You can buy it here on Amazon or here at the SUNY Press website.
The talk is open to the public and reservations are needed. Go here to register. If you miss it tomorrow, it will be archived on the Yiddish Book Center website.
Lots of interesting things still going on with the suitcases. I will try to update here more often. Please check out the instagram site as I am posting almost daily there.
Wishing you all good health in these harrowing times. Thanks for following. Jon
Willard Suitcases / Charles F. Grave / Ithaca
I have known for a long time now that Charles F. was buried in Ithaca.
The photo of his grave is the last image that I need for the book Ilan Stavans and I are doing for SUNY Press.
Ilan’s essay is beyond amazing, and I am really happy with the section of the book that has the two of us talking about our feelings about Charles and to the contents of his suitcase. / Searching online I was able to find the location of his grave, but I had no map of the cemetery by which to determine the exact location. This morning I went to the Ithaca Town Hall where a very nice and helpful person gave me the information that I needed.
There are two sections of the cemetery that are reserved for the burial of Jewish folks. When I saw these graves I knew I was getting close.
Charles is buried at the most Southeastern corner of the cemetery.
The fact that (by New York State law) I have to obscure the surnames of the patients is really pissing me off these days. Charles died in 1950 and I think it continues to stigmatize patients to deny who they were. I hear so regularly from family members seeking information about relatives who lived at Willard, and I feel terrible that I can’t help out. New York State law supercedes Federal HIPAA laws about what can be revealed to families and other interested parties. This can only be changed through the legislature, and I am really interested in finding a legislator in Albany to introduce a bill to bring New York State in line with Federal law (the Feds put the cap at 50 years after death, and for New York State the cap is forever). To cover myself here I put these leaves over his name but IT JUST FEELS SO WRONG.
Here’s a view from another angle. Much more pleasing that the previous one showing the buildings in the background.
Peter Carroll came along to shoot some B-Roll as I worked today. We are slowly moving ahead with the documentary on the project. It’s still very early stages, but we are hoping to put up a Kickstarter appeal sometime in the late Summer in order to be able to produce a short piece which we can then preview to funders.
Thanks for following along everyone. I am posting almost daily to the @willardsuitcases Instagram account, so if you haven’t checked it out, please do.
Willard Patient Dress / Part 2
This is the back of the dress that I posted the other day.
There is more of the beautiful orange thread on this side, as well as some very fanciful figures.
In the image below, I love how the two horizontal lines at the bottom of the dress seem to me to indicate water. And is that a spigot just above the lines?
Here is the reverse side of the above figure. I was thinking at the time we were shooting that people who do embroidery might like to see this view.
This figure is similar to one on the front of the dress.
The faces she does are so expressive.
Here is another detail of a hand, and I am not sure what is represented coming out of what appears to be a pocket.
The figure below in the box looks like either a kind of face or something from the depths of the ocean.
Is this another face?
Her use of lines is very cool.
I have been trying to figure out how the grid below fits in to the overall design. At first I thought it represented a building, but I am not so sure.
And here are just a few more shots of the reverse side of the dress.
Thanks for checking this out. I will continue my efforts to find the name of the Willard patient who created this. In the meantime you can continue to see the latest uploads of the cases at the Willard Suitcases site.
Willard Suitcases / Michael B
Here is another example of a complication in one’s life that could possibly lead to time spent at Willard. It has not been unusual to find evidence of language problems in the lives of people who were patients there. Obviously, there must have been other factors in Michael’s situation that led him to Willard, but we have never seen such a direct link to language issues. (Michael was born Michele B in Italy.) The pink note should be readable, but if not, here is the text. “Please give this man something for his ear as he can not talk much english [sic] to make you understand what he wants.” Very sad, and I wonder what the writer meant by “something for his ear”. My first thought upon reading this was a reference to the Babel Fish which is featured in Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books.
This is also the second case in which we found postcards having to do with the Lone Ranger.
Yesterday, we also photographed Lawrence Mocha’s suitcase. I will do a longer post about him in the next few days.
Thanks for following.
Willard Suitcases / Rodrigo L
Rodrigo was a reader. His collection of books was extensive and interesting.
He was also a bit of a writer. Below is a novel that he wrote that was part of his library.
It is interesting how he changed the dedication.
He must have been working with some sort of editor or teacher, as there are lots of corrections in red ink.
Some of his books were from his days at Salt Lake High School. The collected issues of the school publication “Red and Black” were among his books.
This was the only evidence of his byline that I could find.
Frustrating to have to obscure his surname.
There is so much amazing material here, and I have to keep reminding myself that I am just documenting the collection as a photographer, and not as a social historian. The temptation is to photograph everything that made his life so interesting, but I reckon I would never finish.
Peggy was especially helpful is setting up and organizing our work yesterday. Here is a shot of her cheerful presence in front of a setup for which she was largely responsible. Thanks Peg.
Willard Suitcases / Herman G
Peg and I started in on the returned Exploratorium cases yesterday, and it was great to get back to shooting.
Herman’s case was particularly interesting to me as most of his things related to photography. It will be somewhat difficult to read this label on a computer monitor, but it reveals quite a bit about him. He had been living in Sonyea, NY at the Craig Colony for Epileptics. Lin Stuhler’s site has a good description of Craig here. There is a note on this label stating “List of ??? [artifacts, contents?, I can’t quite read it] on reverse side of this cover”.
And here is that list. You can see Herman’s signature on the top sheet that acknowledges receipt.
There were three lenses in the case, including this lovely Bausch and Lomb Tessar.
This was the 1930s idea of a light meter.
The collection includes quite a bit of correspondence from The American School of Photography in Chicago. It seemed to be a well organized “learn at home” way of becoming a photographer. Since all of the envelopes that contained the promotional materials were addressed to Herman in Sonyea, NY, I have to assume that he was learning to be a photographer while living at the Craig Colony.
For me, Herman’s story is particularly touching, and not just because of the photography connection. I purposely don’t include too much of myself on this site, but sometimes I feel the need to open up a bit about the emotional impact of shooting these cases. Our son Peter is an amazing guy. He was a preemie, and spent months in the hospital after he was born. He has cerebral palsy and a history of epilepsy. He lives independently in DC and is a truly remarkable and inspirational person. I simply can’t imagine what his life would have been like had he been born in the 1920s, and when I think of Herman and his life in institutions, it breaks my heart.
Willard Suitcases / Margaret D
On Tuesday, Peg and I started in on Margaret D’s cases. By all accounts she came to Willard with her entire household, which included a car. There is so much of hers in the collection that we literally did not know where or how to start. The first shot we took is of this remnant of a shipping label, and it seemed as good a place as any to begin. She came to Willard from the Mount Morris TB Hospital, but I haven’t yet seen anything with a date on it to know for sure when she arrived.
It will take us weeks to get through her things, but now that we have started, I feel excited to proceed. I will continue to post about her as we move ahead.
My son Peter sent me a link to an interesting article in Sunday’s Washington Post. It is about a woman who struggles with a lot of the same issues that many Willard patients must have experienced. Here is the link.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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