Associated Press ran an article (that ran in more than 50 newspapers) entitled “ Exhibit Spotlights NY Mental Hospital” about how the artifacts of some patients warehoused at the former Willard Psychiatric Center in Upstate New York are part of an exhibit opening Monday at the New York Public Library. The artifacts were culled from 400 suitcases left behind by patients at the Psychiatric Center, which opened in 1869 and closed in 1995. The exhibit sheds light on the little-known world of patients who spent decades at the state institution for the insane, arriving with their belongings and in most cases never leaving. Dr. Peter Stastny, a psychiatrist, is an organizer of the exhibit and co-author of an upcoming book, "The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic." The article covers some of the cases of people who were committed to Willard, living there until they died. "It was started as the state's hospital for people who were considered hopeless," said Darby Penney, a former state mental health official and the other author of the book about the artifacts, due out in January from Bellevue Literary Press. "They weren't trying to help anybody get better," Penney said. "They were warehousing people and they tried to do it as cheaply as possible.

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