Proclivities wrote: 
Wow. So sad.

In Austin there is a cemetery where patients from the State Hospital were buried. There are a few large monuments, but many, if not most, are marked with just a number. Occasionally a story about a long-lost relative surfaces, but so many were just forgotten.

I won't defend the way mental hospitals operated then, but at least there was the realization these people needed care, sometimes full-time permanent care. What we have now is hardly better, and in some ways worse. 

 meower wrote: 
I read this a few years ago. It's great.

 Proclivities wrote: 
There's an exhibit in the Exploratorium in San Francisco ... pretty interesting to see these suitcases up close.

 meower wrote: 
Thanks.  I'll have to look for that book.

It was really really good.  

 Proclivities wrote: 

I read a book about this. gonna go find the name....

Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients
 

 sparkstar wrote: 
Bill's the banner. Ban 'er, Bill!