By Ellen | August 15, 2011
[image title=”front of MH” size=”full” id=”739″ align=”right” ]Morningside Hospital in the 1950s or 1960s. There were many other structures on the property, including patient housing and farm buildings. [image title=”205 Mall” size=”full” id=”743″ align=”right” ]In 1968, Morningside Hospital was sold to the developers of the 205 Mall. This […]
By Ellen | August 13, 2011
Researchers Niesje Steinkruger and Meg Greene, both of whom are retired Superior Court judges, have made incredible progress is locating and documenting Morningside patient court records. Below are photos of some of the things they’ve found with descriptions provided by Niesje. [image title=”Subpoena” size=”full” id=”705″ align=”left” ] This photo (L) is of a subpoena […]
Eric Cordingley and David Anderson, of the Friends of Multnomah Park Cemetery, have identified the burial places of more than 100 Morningside patients. They created a Virtual Cemetery site that includes all of the patients they’ve identified, pictures of gravestones, and other information on the patients. They are relying on two sources of information in […]
By Ellen | April 29, 2011
Tom Ralphs contacted the blog wondering if we had any records indicating that his grandfather, Tom Shea, was at Morningside. When I wrote back that I didn’t find anything, he mentioned that his grandmother, Clara Simpson, was sent there in the 1940’s, and he had information on her life that he was willing to share. […]
Oregon State Hospital tries to reunite families with cremated remains of past patients, but errors on list may make it difficult [image title=”OSH Copper Urns” size=”full” id=”661″ align=”right” linkto=”viewer” ]SALEM — The intent was to reunite families with the remains of their relatives, patients who died and were cremated at the Oregon State Hospital decades […]
By Ellen | March 10, 2011
[image title=”Luba” size=”full” id=”644″ align=”right” linkto=”viewer” ]Aleksandr Hazanov, who lives in Finland, contacted us wondering if we had information about his mother’s cousin, Lubova Pontelaief. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Pontelaief, a Russian Orthodox priest who brought his family from Russia to Unalaska in the early 1900s. The photo to the right is believed […]
The Oregon State Hospital Museum Project blog posted an interesting article that asks the question, “Why Oregon?” “The question still remains, why Oregon? The State Insane Asylum (later Western State Hospital) at Fort Steilacoom near Tacoma had been in operation since 1871 and is geographically closer to Alaska than Salem or Portland. Or perhaps even […]
By Ellen | February 19, 2011
In an earlier post, I wrote about the copper canisters that hold the cremains of patients who died at the Oregon State Hospital. The names of the patients, and other information such as date of death, are now online. The webpage, Honoring the Past – List of Unclaimed Cremains[image title=”copper” size=”full” id=”617″ align=”left” linkto=”viewer” ], […]
By Ellen | December 29, 2010
Happy Holidays! 2010 was an exciting year! Among the milestones this year: The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority granted us funding to support research and travel. The grant is being administered by Access Alaska. We did well received presentations at the Alaska Historical Society Conference and the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference Work […]
By Ellen | November 29, 2010
[image title=”Photos 1923_0003″ size=”full” id=”592″ align=”right” linkto=”viewer” ]Research team member Marylou Elton lives in Washington, DC, and spends many of her Wednesday’s at the National Archives II scanning Department of the Interior (DOI) administrative records of Morningside Hospital. She recently sent an interesting set of documents relating to the 1923 DOI inspection of the hospital, […]
