I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this bulletin - it's been almost a year since we've posted anything regarding the Hiawatha Diary project. The past nine months have been full of changes, both good and bad and we want everybody to know that we haven't forgotten our supporters!!

As most know, we lost two valued members of this project since our last update. Floyd Redcrow Westerman passed away in December and then Harold Ironshield, the man who introduced me to the in-depth history of the asylum, passed away in February. We have been working on a special page for Harold, to pay tribute to all his hard work regarding the asylum and hope to have it up soon.

We'd planned on having Harold's page up far sooner than the present but there were some unavoidable circumstances that arose in the months following Harold's passing, the main one being the diagnosis of one of our production team members with colon cancer. This put several different projects regarding the production, including a trailer and a youtube video, on hold. I'm happy to say the member, who requested that his name not be released at the moment, has completed his chemo cycle and is doing very well. We appreciate everyone's prayers for his continued recovery.

One of the other hold ups is entirely my fault, I got married to Still Spring Films' Art Director - tall guy, Cheyenne, some of you might know him.  All that wedding stuff tends to get in the way of everything else whether you want it to or not.  I apologize for being remiss. 

I wish I could say that we have a good lead on funding but as of this date but we do not. Since January we've been contacted by no less than ten different individuals from all over the world wishing to invest but every single one of them has strings that I, as the author of the current script, refuse to attach. I won't sell out history - nor will I play matchmaker to Indian obsessed Europeans who seem to think they can "get themselves an Indian wife" by investing in said production. It would be grossly irresponsible for any of one of the Still Springs team to accept such offers. Of course this means it's taking far longer than expected to make this movie but the reality of the importance of this production's history far outweighs the wait. Even if this movie is ultimately never made, we will continue to share the story of the Hiawatha Asylum and what went on there. The dissemination of information regarding the asylum itself is ultimately the great importance here - remembering those who were lost and honoring their memory by making sure that what they suffered is never forgotten and never repeated in any way, shape or form.

Furthermore, I'd like to thank each of you who have written to offer suggestions or support, it's all greatly appreciated. For those who've written in search of information regarding family members I am truly sorry we've been unable to find anything for you. Both Dr. Leahy and I have searched the records that remain and our individual files without much success. Given that Dr. Hummer had two sets of files, one for the hospital, the other for himself, much information was lost or inaccurately recorded before the asylum was ever even closed down. The files in Dr. Leahy's possession now are scattered and limited in specific information which is a shame as there are those who still search for loved ones who were supposed to have been sent to the asylum but no verification can be made. For those who've written to offer interviews regarding family members sent to the asylum I thank you for your patience - there have been quite a few actually and it's been hard to keep up. I am making attempts to get interviews set up as fast as possible, I thank you for not lynching me because I'm way too slow!

For those who've inquired regarding Dr. Leahy's dissertation, there's great news - Dr. Leahy has a book coming out about the asylum this summer. This will be the first - and one and only as far as we know - non-fiction book devoted entirely to the asylum on a collegiate level. As soon as we have definite release dates, we'll make sure you all know!

I'd also like to thank all of you who take the time to pass information on regarding the asylum and the movie via bulletin or email - the more people who know about Hiawatha and what happened there, the better.  We also have the possibility of some radio and print interviews in the near future because of all your hard work in this area!!  We greatly appreciate you passing the information on!!

While it's important to share production news and news related to the production process, it remains even more important to remember the reason for this production in the first place - the patients of Hiawatha.  I was asked once what was in this for me - why would I care about a cemetery full of Indians given that I am not Indian myself?  My answer?  They're people who have been forgotten and nobody deserves that. 

Following the old writing adage that sometimes we don't pick our projects, our projects pick us, I knew the first time I ever set foot in the cemetery that this would be a cause I would stand firm on.  I knew that one day I would tell their story - I wasn't sure how, there'd already been a fiction book to use it, but there needed to be more, a lot more, out there. People need to know that these people lived, they breathed and they died at the hands of a hospital staff that loathed them just because they looked and spoke differently. Telling their story is what is in it for me or I wouldn't be here.

To me this is not completely about the asylum but the people inside the asylum. These were people who were many times stolen in the dead of night and brought by train to the middle of nowhere and dumped. How would you feel in that position? How would you feel to be told that you could never go outside again? That you cannot eat? That you cannot have clothing or more importantly, practice your beliefs? How would you feel to know that your ultimate end is in the middle of a hill and most people have no clue what you went through before those final moments that led you to that grave. This was not about assimilation but segregation from society with the intent to annihilate in some form or another. While it didn't have the death camp aura of Auschwitz, it was the same principle, just missing the gas chambers.

Both the hospital and the patients inside are a part of history that most history books ignore all together. The asylum wasn't one of many widespread locations as were the boarding schools, it wasn't part of any great battle (save its final court battle) and most of the patients were not released to tell what they knew about the inside.  In fact to utter the name of Canton or the asylum today amidst certain elders still carries a stigma and fear that cannot be described. It is for their sake that we proceed cautiously in everything we do regarding this production - both the living and the dead need to be treated with respect and honor when it comes to dealing with the Hiawatha Asylum.

In confronting the hospital as a sole issue, my opinion is that the unique position of Hiawatha as an active experiment in eugenics makes this hospital extremely important.  Dr. Hummer, not even quite realizing that many of the patients he committed weren't actually even mentally ill, delineated mental illness among Indians down to them being Indian, no matter what tribe.  It was his belief that ultimately they were "crazy" because their cultural differences as Indians set them apart.  Couple that with the reservation agents who looked at Hiawatha as their own personal warehouse for "problems" on their reservations and the Hiawatha Asylum was a decided recipe for disaster. But, and I cannot stress this enough, one must remember to look beyond the building - which is what I do.  I look to the patients and what they went through.

It should always be said that there were actually patients at Hiawatha who were actually mentally ill. There was an equal amount of those suffering physical illnesses such as epilepsy. The secret of this hospital that can never be stressed enough was that the great majority were not mentally ill and were basically being "stored" at the hospital until they could die. Unlike the boarding schools, where some victims actually were able to get away and make it back to their loved ones, escape was not much of an option. There was a 7 foot wall between the patients and the outside world and then they had to actually go outside in order to even attempt to scale the wall. Many patients went into the hospital and stayed in doors until the day they died. In its 36 year history there were very few recorded escape attempts and only three recorded successful attempts - and even then the patients were returned.

Patients were released at Dr. Hummer's whim and it was usually because he wanted to get a particular problematic patient out of the way - or keep their mouths shut. Physical and sexual abuse of the patients was legion and not only were outside abortions common, children born within the hospital structure were common as well. Some were kept as "research" subjects, others returned to family members of the patient. There was no set pattern, it depended upon Hummer and how he wanted to proceed.

And in the event of death, the body might or might not be returned. Since publicly announcing this production we've received no less than fifty to sixty emails informing us that certain names located on the marker at the golf course cemetery are not correct. The people in question had been returned home to their loved ones and are not actually buried there...so the question remains, who IS buried in their place? Given the infamous "chart" Dr. Gifford created when he first started the cemetery is long gone it's unlikely we'll ever know but should they be forgotten? Their blood cries up to us - it says we are here. To stand in the middle of that cemetery a person can feel their presence and know that they are there, waiting for somebody to tell their story, to remind people that they were once living, breathing people with loved ones and a history whose lives were stolen from them in the most heinous of ways - long before they ever passed away. We take our responsibility to share their story very seriously and hope that those who support our endeavor do so as well.

Last, and certainly not least, in an attempt to promote educatinon regarding the asylum, starting in July we will be posting further information regarding the asylum and its patients, both here on the profile and on the webpage.  Feel free to pass this information on because knowledge is power and we cannot, under any circumstances, allow these people or what they went through to be forgotten. 

~ Mia Cruciani