Jon Crispin's Notebook

I am back shooting suitcases after a bit of a break.  Peg has been traveling as have I, and it feels great to be working on the project again. / Joseph A. has a huge number of items in the collection.  There were about 15 museum boxes in one of the big storage containers.  It is always a bit intimidating with so many artifacts, especially when a large number of the items are clothing.  In Joseph’s case it was interesting because half of the clothes were women’s.  It wasn’t until we got deep into the setup that we found this card with the “Wife’s clothing” writing on it.  As with most of the information that we glean from the objects, we can only guess the circumstances of Joseph’s admission to Willard.  In this case though, it is very likely that his wife was deceased and he brought all her things with him.  (This included a ton of household items such as sheets, towels, napkins, etc.)  Very sad and touching.

I will be presenting the project at the Seward House Museum in Auburn, NY on (next) Wednesday the 5th of November.  The event is at the Auburn Public Theatre at 7.00 PM and there is a $10.00 admission fee ($5.00 for members).  I will also be talking about my NY State prison documentation project.  If you follow this blog, please come up and say hi.  It would be great to meet you.