The Mansfield Training School Memorial and Museum
Remembering those at Mansfield Training School…
May 17, 2022
The Mansfield Training School Memorial Museum aims to preserve the nearly erased, and over 100-year long, history of the Mansfield Training School in order to remember the lives, voices, and experiences of those who were institutionalized here. With deep-rooted cross-institutional connections to universities, hospitals, and government agencies across the State of Connecticut, the Mansfield Training School and its history reveals the treatment, attitudes, and discrimination experienced by people with disabilities throughout the 20th century, up until its closure in 1993.
Mansfield Training School Today
As of today, many of the abandoned buildings across the 350-acre MTS campus remain untouched since their closure. Transferred to the University of Connecticut in 1994, the buildings once served as storage for the university but due to lack of maintenance, they continue to deteriorate. MTS today is known by many students for its “haunted” nature, however few know the true history of the lives of those who lived here…
Experiencing the Archives
Written By: Paula Mock
The experience of individually reading documents and then coming together to share particularly striking pieces was one that allowed conversation to spark at any point during the day–numerous times, we found ourselves having had long, rich discussions about much larger-scale issues than just MTS itself.
Why I’m Here
Written By: Brenda Brueggemann
I’m here, on and in this project, because I simply couldn’t not be. I didn’t choose the project (like many of the fabulous undergraduate research team members did) – it chose me.
Additional Posts and Updates:
MTS Team Live Reading:
“The Mansfield Training School Is Closed: The Swamp Has Been Finally Drained” by Roger D. MacNamara
In the Archives
Being in and “doing” the MTS archival work was hard on me then, needless to say.
Places of Waiting
It was as though time stood still for a moment. And in a way it had. I was imagining being in a place of “waiting.” A place where time stood still.