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The Lives They Left Behind
The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic | Darby Penney, Peter Stastny
By the time it closed in 1995 after 126 years of operation, Willard Psychiatric Center, overlooking Seneca Lake in upstate New York, had been home to over 54,000 people. Some were released to their former communities after years of institutionalization, but many more died there. If not for the discovery of more than 400 suitcases filled with patients' belongings in the hospital attic (which led to a 2004 exhibit at the NewYork State Museum in Albany that attracted more than 300,000 visitors and now to this book), their lives would have been lost to history. In The Lives They Left Behind, the contents of 10 of these suitcases are skillfully examined and compared to the written record to create a moving - and devastating - group portrait of 20th century American psychiatric care. The stories of rich and complex lives not hinted at in the hospital records emerge from a wide array of personal effects - letters to loved ones, photographs of school days and foreign travels, knickknacks, religious tracts, a christening gown, professional photographic equipment, a delicate hand-painted bone china teacup and saucer. Here are the personal dramas of new immigrants and native-born Americans coping with a host of problems in times of war and economic hardship. They are men and women of different races and ethnicities, among them a young dispossessed German nun, a Scottish nurse and an African-American World War II veteran. The confusion following displacement; the rage or despair that resulted from illness, loss of loved ones or work; and the experience of hearing disembodied voices were only some of the misfortunes that put them on the path to institutionalization, from which most would never escape alive. As it restores the humanity of the individuals it so poignantly evokes, The Lives They Left Behind reveals the vast historical inadequacies of a psychiatric system that has yet to heal itself.
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Born.A.Reader
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Eggs Heartbreaking 💔 6mo
17 likes1 comment
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Born.A.Reader
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#luggagecover #NewYearNewBooks
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

This one has been on my TBR forever, ever since I read What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman.

Eggs Sounds so good! 10mo
michellelav Wow, thank you for bringing this book to my attention! 10mo
Born.A.Reader @michellelav you're welcome! I need to bring it to the top of my TBR too 10mo
23 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Mccall0113
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Did some reading while the little was in the tub

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NatalieR
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Pickpick

When Willard Psychiatric Center closed in 1995, more than 400 suitcases belonging to former patients was discovered in the attic; separated by gender and the alphabet. This book offers a look into the lives of some of those patients. Fascinating history of unique people. Lots of sadness for the many decades some people spent living in a mental hospital. #MountTBR

mrp27 This sounds so interesting! 4y
BarbaraBB I am very intrigued 4y
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Mccall0113
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A coworker recommended this one. Not too far of a drive from my home. I also work in mental health so it‘s very interesting!

GardenJess Oh I remember following this project when it was a blog - so fascinating! 4y
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book.s
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Pickpick

I found this book in a Secondhand bookstore, the title' The lives they left behind ' made me curious... And what a breathtaking book it has turned out to be!
This is a transfixing and deeply sad book, and its genesis is breathtaking: the discovery of hundreds of suitcases in an attic of the abandoned Willard State Hospital in New York, and taken to the New York State Museum. .
Must Read!
#book #bookreview #blurb #booknerd #literature #nonfiction

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Reviewsbylola
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I have been to the library more since my kids started school a month ago than I have in the last year! This was my second trip this week. I walk them to school, walk over to Starbucks, then cross the street and hit up the library. 9/11 has made me sentimental and introspective, so I grabbed two 9/11 books. One is a graphic novel so that's bound to fail, but it is an adaption of the actual commissioner's report. And I have @Kaye to thank for book 3

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Kaye @Reviewsbylola I hope you find the book interesting. I sure did. (edited) 7y
Librariana Done. Done. And done. Added all 3. You rock! 7y
Reviewsbylola It sounds fascinating. Now I just have to make sure I actually read it. 😂 @kaye 7y
Kaye @Reviewsbylola yes I know what you mean. Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach , except it's books instead of food. I make library trips where I need a wheelbarrow to carry it all home. How I think I can read 38 books in 2 weeks is beyond me. 7y
Suet624 @Kaye, 😂😂😂 I feel ya. 7y
emilyhaldi Oh wow that book looks fascinating!! #stacked @Kaye @Reviewsbylola 7y
Mdargusch So interesting. A graphic novel. 🤔 7y
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