The Port Podcast 04: Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane

Port Magazine

31 July 2013 Prologue: Senior editor Matt Willey introduces this month's podcast on Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane, opened in 1869 on Seneca Lake, New York State. It's mission, to "Treat the chronically insane with gentleness and understanding". Nearly 50'000 patients lived at Willard during its 127 year history and roughly half died there. When it closed its doors in 1995, workers stumbled upon a discovery that shed an unknown light on the lives of Willard's patients... Karen Miller, a psychiatrist and poet who's spent the last several years researching the histories of Willard's former patients, talks to former employees Sally Dawley and Peg Ellsworth, who started working at Willard's in 1948. Miller explains how Willard, the first psychiatric hospital in New York, was home to more than 4'000 patients at one time during the 1920s and 30s, and the cultural attitude to mental illness at the time. We also meet photographer Jon Crispin has been tasked with documenting the suitcases of patients, found in the attic of the abandoned hospital by a member of its former staff. Each case contains the only personal belongings of its owner, brought in when committed, and kept after their death... Credits: Produced by Barney Rowntree Jon Crispin, photographer Karen Leslie Miller, psychiatrist and a poet Sally Dawley, former Willard employee Peg Ellsworth, therapy aide at Willard Reading, William Kherbek Port opening credits by Jean-Gabriel Becker, Sounds And Sons Music credits: Artist: Anenon Title: Eighty-Four Label: Non Projects Artist: Danny Paul Grody Title: Four years Label: Root Strata Artist: Ikebana Title: Ends Label: Flau Artist: Brave Timbers Title: All the things you couldn’t say Label: Second language music Artist: Brave Timbers Title: More like the oak than the willow Label: Second language music Artist: CFCF Title: Exercises 1 (Entry) Label: Dummy