“The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic” is a book based on the true stories of the lives of 10 people committed to Willard State Hospital in the early 20th century.
“Each of their stories provides an opening to consider some of the broader issues that affected these people: poverty, poor health, trauma, displacement, loss of loved ones, voice-hearing and idiosyncratic beliefs, religious guilt and acts of redemption, and the many ways the psychiatric system failed them,” says Suitcaseexhibit.org.
On Sunday afternoon, one of the two authors, Darby Penney, will lecture at the Schweinfurth Art Center about the book and its corresponding exhibition, which is on display at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art until April 20. The lecture will be followed by a book signing.
“I'm really excited about coming out to Auburn,” Penney said. “There may be people who worked at Willard State Hospital or people that knew them (the patients).”
The exhibition is on display as close to the original hospital as it ever has been. The hospital was located in Willard, in the town of Ovid.
Penney had been working in the New York State Office of Mental Health when there was a discovery of about 400 suitcases in the hospital's attic upon its closing in the late '90s. Penney and co-author Peter Stastney, also a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker, embarked on almost 10 years of historical research, resulting in the exhibition's opening in 2004, Penney said.
“The suitcase owners, people who were abandoned by society and put away for decades, were finally memorialized in a respectful way that celebrated the richness of their lives,” reads the exhibit's Web site.
Robert Whitaker, author of “Mad in America,” gave “The Lives They Behind” a rave review, saying it is “a stunning achievement (that) illuminates the tragedy of our treatment of those with mental and emotional problems.”
If you go
What: Lecture and signing with Darby Penney, author of “The Lives They Left Behind”
When: 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13
Where: Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free
Info: Call 255-1553
On Sunday afternoon, one of the two authors, Darby Penney, will lecture at the Schweinfurth Art Center about the book and its corresponding exhibition, which is on display at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art until April 20. The lecture will be followed by a book signing.
“I'm really excited about coming out to Auburn,” Penney said. “There may be people who worked at Willard State Hospital or people that knew them (the patients).”
The exhibition is on display as close to the original hospital as it ever has been. The hospital was located in Willard, in the town of Ovid.
Penney had been working in the New York State Office of Mental Health when there was a discovery of about 400 suitcases in the hospital's attic upon its closing in the late '90s. Penney and co-author Peter Stastney, also a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker, embarked on almost 10 years of historical research, resulting in the exhibition's opening in 2004, Penney said.
“The suitcase owners, people who were abandoned by society and put away for decades, were finally memorialized in a respectful way that celebrated the richness of their lives,” reads the exhibit's Web site.
Robert Whitaker, author of “Mad in America,” gave “The Lives They Behind” a rave review, saying it is “a stunning achievement (that) illuminates the tragedy of our treatment of those with mental and emotional problems.”
If you go
What: Lecture and signing with Darby Penney, author of “The Lives They Left Behind”
When: 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13
Where: Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free
Info: Call 255-1553
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