The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic

From December 3, 2007 through January 31, 2008
Healy Hall
Science, Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 (directions)

The Octagon. New York City Lunatic Asylum. Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) 1839.

Resource Guide (PDF)

When the Willard Psychiatric Center in New York’s Finger Lakes region closed in 1995, several hundred suitcases filled with the personal belongings of former patients were discovered in an abandoned attic room. As a team of committed curators explored these belongings, individual histories were revealed and The Lives They Left Behind exhibition was born. These suitcases and their contents illuminate the rich, complex lives the individual patients led before they were committed to Willard and speak to their aspirations, accomplishments and community connections, as well as their loss and isolation. These stories make The Suitcase Exhibit a poignant illumination of both the humanity and struggle of those with mental illness historically, while illustrating the vital importance of quality care, compassion, and the hope of recovery today.

The Lives They Left Behind is an exhibit of the Exhibition Alliance presented by NAMI-NYC Metro, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Office of Consumer Affairs, and The New York Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business Library, with the support of the New York Community Trust.