willard asylum: unintentional time capsules

In 1995, the Willard Asylum was shut down to be renovated as a drug rehabilitation center. When the New York State Museum went in to remove items, they found an attic full of old suitcases that used to belong to patients from the 1910s to the 1960s. Because the patients never left the asylum, all of their suitcases were stored away after they passed away. In 2003, a small selection was chosen as display, revealing individual stories and a case!snapshot of their lives and what they chose to bring with them to the hospital.

Photographer Jon Crispin from Massachusetts, was given an incredible opportunity to photograph these unintentional time capsules, archiving a still moment from years passed. There is something very intimate and curious in glimpsing into one's most prized possessions--or one's most valued and important--that they would not part with. Yet at the same time, nostalgically sad for none of these residents knew that they were going to never return home or that their belongings would one day become artifacts.