Web Wednesday - Willard Suitcases

Sometime ago I came across today's Web Wednesday topic and thought it was simply fascinating. Not just in terms of the actual project, but also the historical context and details behind it.

The project is called Willard Suitcases and the blog is capturing the very essence of the 400 suitcases belonging to former residents of a New York psychiatric hospital. The cases were put into storage when the patients were admitted, many contained belongings packed without the realisation of what it means to be institutionalised. The luggage dates from between 1910 and 1960 and in the cases of many of the patients they never left. Quite simply tragic.

Willard Psychiatric Hospital circa 1880 - courtesy of The New York Times

Once the hospital was closed the luggage was salvaged and acquired by New York State Museum. The blog host, Jon Crispin was given the wonderful opportunity to photograph the luggage.

You can read more details about the project at
http://www.willardsuitcases.com/about. Jon's introductory post can be found HERE. You can also read Jon's blog and see the posts about the suitcases at http://joncrispinposts.com/

The tragedy in all of this is that many people were confined in institutions across the globe  for conditions that were not diagnosed or treated. Conditions such as epilepsy for example. Conditions such as dementia was not acknowledged. In other instances wives were confined for perhaps having what we know now to be post natal depression, or perhaps confined so they could be replaced with a newer model!

Websites such at this one exists to honour those who lived in such tragic times. It is important that we learn from the material and data they left behind.

Further information

• Suitcase Exhibition - http://suitcaseexhibit.org/
• UK Newspaper - The Daily Mail 10th June 2013 - Article
• The Inmates of Willard 1870 - 1900
• US Newspaper - The New York Times 28th November 2014 - Article
• Willard Cemetery Memorial Project

Links accessed and found to be live 23rd March 2015

Collections - Summary

Created by Julie Goucher, Jan 2015 using Wordle

Last week I shared a few posts about collections.

Those posts had actually been written with a specific organisation in mind, and I broke those posts down and shared them here. I had meant to get back to you with this post, but life got in the way. You know that feeling....don't you?

If you missed those earlier posts then here are the links for you:

• Motivational Monday - Understanding a Collection
• Tuesday's Tip - Recognise a Collection
• Web Wednesday - Software Collection

I have recognised I have a few collections. That is probably the first step. Then there are decisions to be made on what to do with them. WHY do I have those collections. There are an assortment of reasons why I have some collections.

• Gifts or Sentimentality attached to the collection - Stamps
• Expanding a further area of research - Postcards
• Reading material - books, articles and journals

As I stated last week, all my books are kept in LibraryThing. I have also added to my LibraryThing Microfiche, Data CD's, Audio books, Journals and Specific Articles. My thinking here was if the physical item exists in my home library / office then it would be logged on my LibraryThing account.

The bulk of my collections are linked to specific places - probably my One Place Studies, but not exclusively so. I have a very large collection of Guildford (Surrey, England) material and whilst Guildford is not currently registered as a study, it is just that in some way.

I also have a few things that relate to my two One-Name or Surname Research for the Surnames of Orlando and Worship. Articles and journals relating to several health issues, are also featured in my collections. I have a particular interest in Polio for example.

I truly wish I could say that is all my collections, but it is not, and I get a sense that if you are reading this then you probably can think of a few collections you have!

I shared a few links last week to collection software. My personal choice is to use Excel. I have created a blank spreadsheet which can be accessed at Google Docs and via my website

Just as everyone's collections will not be the same, neither will the catalyst for starting them or how they are indexed. For me the point is not just collecting, but doing something constructive with the material once there is a collection. 

Web Wednesday - Collection Software

Created by Julie Goucher using Wordle Jan 2015

Over the last couple of days I have talked about Understanding a Collection and Recognising a Collection.

Whilst using Excel or Google sheets is a really good option for recording the items that make up a collection I have come across two pieces of software that are available and free to download.

I have not currently tried either of them, so please exercise care and attention with downloading!

• Adlib Museum Lite
• Museum Archive Software Project

As I said I have not tried either and before doing so I will be clarifying the types of material I have in my collections. I shall share details of my collections later in the week and share how I am tracking my collections.

There is also one site that I do use and I know many fellow book readers and genealogists do too.

• LibraryThing 

You can view my LibraryThing profile. I paid my $25 for lifetime access back in 2005. I use the site to track my books, reading and book wish lists by having a series of collections; you can read the details by visiting the profile. 

I still have two bookcases to do, one that houses my Italian collection of books and my thyroid collection of books. The second bookcase houses the majority of my husband's angling and fishing books. I also have several boxes of books that belonged to my late Mum to process.

In addition to that I also record journals, papers, audio books and microfiche. I have a plan to log several podcasts that I have listened too and want to review. In the comments section I add the URL and/or the details where the podcast is located. I also have a notebook of around 20 years of book reviews that I may (or may not) add to LibraryThing as time and the urge allows!

Over the next few days I will be sharing some more information about my collections.

Web Wednesday - Prudential Insurance

A few weeks ago I was looking on the Prudential Insurance website for a contact address when I came across an interesting find.

created by Julie Goucher Jan 2015 using Wordle

The Prudential PLC, one of the leading Insurance providers here in the UK had a rather substantial business in Poland before World War Two through a subsidiary company called Przezornosc of which Prudential had a controlling interest which had been acquired in 1927.

Przezornosc continued to issue life insurance policies in Poland until the end of December 1936 and Prudential Assurance continued to do the same between January 1933 and December 1936. From January 1937 both companies ceased to accept new life business and the administration for both of those branches merged.

Under the Nazi regime, the assets of Prudiential were ceased and they did not operate during this time. At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War there were more than 4,500 policies in existence, of which around half were settled during the early 1950's despite there being significant gaps in records due to destruction of documents under the Nazi regime.

Prudential has made some files available which might be of interest to genealogists and these can be access via the following links, all of which are on the Prudential website

• Policy Holders relating to Pre World War Two business
• Staff believed to have been employed by either the Prudential or Przezornosc in Dec 1936

The Prudential site which is specifically related to the Polish records can be accessed HERE with a link to contact the company if you have a potential claim (subject to documentation) or you were employed by the company.

Whilst none of my family surnames can be found on these lists, these are quite a unusual find for genealogists. The reality is that there could be policy holders, staff members or their descendants across the globe.

(Links accessed and checked January 2015)