MEMORIES MATTER… RIGHT?

Posted on by

Written by Paula Mock

Three duplicated photographs of a man and a woman on a gray table, their faces have been blurred for privacy.

For me, the team’s visit to the remaining buildings of the Mansfield Training School was sobering. All of the papers that we’d been seeing in the archival library were now brought to life in front of us, making it much easier to visualize and put the pieces together in a physical space. I certainly underestimated how emotionally involved I would get when exploring the site, and how much weight the space seems to carry–you feel a heaviness in each room, especially knowing the long history that has happened here. I think that being together in person, seeing buildings we’d mostly only ever seen on maps, encouraged our collective curiosity and drove us to investigate deeper than we might have if we went individually. 

As Jess opens the door that leads to the un-renovated half of the former Longley School, we all crowd around, trying to peer into the vastly different space from the fairly-well-maintained transportation center. UConn occupies half of the building, using the space as a set of offices and labs in an area of campus that isn’t very frequently traveled. Walking down the hallway as a larger group earns us some odd looks from figures in lab coats, but no one approaches us with any questions or warnings, and we swing open the propped-open door. It’s dark, dusty, and honestly pretty intimidating; but, as there’s no signage warning us to stay out, Jess takes several steps forward into the space. I remember a distinct moment where the rest of us held back for a second, thinking, Are we really doing this?  

As we walk in and begin looking around, I see something that lingers with me long after we leave the site for the day. Tucked behind a binder in a rusting filing cabinet, a paper folder that holds a left-behind set of photos proudly states, “Memories Matter!”

In the pictures, two young people are smiling at the camera, posing in front of a (somewhat dated) wall, with one person’s arm thrown over the other’s shoulder. 

It feels a bit odd to encounter here, where everything is coated in a thin layer of dust and grit, and where every time you pick something up you inhale a number of particles of who-knows-what. 

Who are these people, and why were their photos left behind in the abandoned half of the former Longley School? Did they have any connection to the Mansfield Training School? Were they UConn students? What is their relation to each other? Where were the photos taken? And–the big question that has been eating at me ever since we left the school–why were these photos put in an otherwise empty drawer directly behind a binder full of (clearly quickly and rashly abandoned) plans to renovate the Longley Building?

From these questions, more questions arise–which has become a very familiar occurrence while working on this project. Each new thing we discover begins to bleed over into the last, making clearly defined categories extremely difficult and organizing all that we stumble upon nearly impossible.

In my mind, the irony of the phrase “Memories Matter” printed on this forgotten packet of pictures wholly sums up the history of MTS and how it’s been represented & remembered thus far. As with many histories of disability, MTS’s story has been largely ignored and smoothed over in order to lessen the social repercussions or blowback that might have erupted if the public was more aware. Training schools and other institutions like them, as prevalent as they were in the 20th century for “first-rate” treatment of developmental disabilities, have been glossed over in our history books, if mentioned at all. We as a collective have a tendency to conveniently leave out the less “pretty” parts of our histories; if we erase our mistakes, they can’t possibly be repeated, right?

61 thoughts on “MEMORIES MATTER… RIGHT?”

  3. Hello there, You have done an incredible job. I will certainly digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this site.

  4. My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!

  9. I would really like to appreciate the endeavors you cash in on written this article. I’m going for the similar best product from you finding out in the foreseeable future as well. Actually your creative writing abilities has urged me to begin my very own blog now. Genuinely the blogging is distributing its wings rapidly. Your write down is often a fine illustration showing it.

  11. I’m partial to blogs and i actually respect your content. The article has actually peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and preserve checking for new information.

  16. Good day! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects? Thanks a lot!

  20. Substantially, the post is really the best on this laudable topic. I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly watch forward to your future updates.Just saying thanx will not just be enough, for the wonderful lucidity in your writing.

  22. Nice blog here! Also your web site loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol

  23. Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is wonderful, let alone the content!

  42. O negócio é ser rápido. 10 minutinhos no Lucky Neko e já lucrei o triplo do depósito. Saber a hora de parar é a maior habilidade.

  45. Quem diria, entrei com pouco e peguei a Tela Forrada no Fortune Tiger. lucro de 5 meses direto pra conta.

  56. Substantially, the post is really the best on this laudable topic. I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly watch forward to your future updates.Just saying thanx will not just be enough, for the wonderful lucidity in your writing.

  57. Hello there I am so delighted I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I was searching on Google for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a remarkable post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the superb work.

  59. Nevertheless, it’s all carried out with tongues rooted solidly in cheeks, and everybody has got nothing but absolutely love for their friendly neighborhood scapegoat. In reality, he is not merely a pushover. He is simply that extraordinary breed of person solid enough to take all that good natured ribbing for what it really is.

  60. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *