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“I came back on Monday and one of the clients had a broken limb and nobody knew how it had occurred,” explains Sue Beecher of a visit to Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. In 1998, Sue was working for Indiana Protection & Advocacy and was…

"When I started in 1977, when people were admitted they brought with them what was called their death bag." The bag contained the clothing that residents of New Castle State Hospital were to be buried in. Sue Beecher recalls her employment at the…

"People coming into the business today, I can't imagine them seeing the advancement and the progress that we saw." Randy Krieble talks about witnessing the evolution of institutional custody and control of people with disablities into…

The Sweetest Little Boy I Ever Knew: A Handmade History for an Institutional Life tells the story of a baby orphaned with disabilities in Nashville, Tennessee at the end of World War II. Despite the loving effort of Edith Mumpower, an older woman who…

It was a "stark" and "demoralizing" environment. From 1977 to 1980, Randy Krieble worked at Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center, as it was known at the time. In this video excerpt from a 2012 interview, he shares what a day in the life of…

"You don't train people to get ready to go out in the community; you take a risk and let them go and see where their strengths are." From 1973 through 1976, the Deinstitututionalization Project gave residents at Muscatatuck State Developmental Center…

An article headlined "Governor Vows Changes at New Castle" appeared on the front page of the Logansport Pharos Tribune on May 7, 1997. Governor Frank O'Bannon visited the New Castle State Developmental Center on May 6, 1997 after an Indianapolis…

Thomas Hancock, age 10 months, with nurse at General Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, October 1946. Thomas entered Muscatatuck State School in 1951, living there until he died in 1981.

The photo depicts an alumnae reunion at the Indiana State School for the Deaf in Indianapolis on May 29, 1908.
Text in photo:
"Cirkut photo by C. F. Bretzman and Orson Archibald, 6 inch Cirkut"
"Alumni reunion, Ladies' Group, Indiana State…

An historical marker observing the centenary of Indiana’s 1907 landmark sterilization law, and acknowledging Indiana's role in the sterilization of its institutionalized citizens. The marker is located at the Indiana State Library in…