Asylum Hill Research Consortium

Pictured in 2018 (front, from left) are consortium members and collaborators including Eric Hospodor, Dr. Sara Gleason, Dr. Ralph Didlake, Mary Ball Markow, Misti Thornton, Dr. Amy Wiese Forbes, Dr. Caroline Compretta, Dr. Véronique Bélisle; (back) Dr. Thomas Gregory, Dr. Tony Boudreaux, Dr. Patrick Hopkins, Dr. Janice Brockley, Dr. Shamsi Berry and Dr. Molly Zuckerman.

Dr. Ralph Didlake leads the Asylum Hill Research Consortium, a group of scholars from various disciplines formed to plan the respectful exhumations and the memorialization of those buried on the grounds of what is now the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson.

Our mission

To preserve, rigorously investigate, and promote the public history and scientific value of the Mississippi State Insane Asylum and to honor the experience and legacy of the individuals who were its patients over an important 80-year period in the history of medicine, mental illness, disability, and social institutions in the State of Mississippi.

Our vision

The Asylum Hill Research Consortium is a model program for investigation, civic engagement, and education in the medical humanities and bioarchaeology. Using evidence-based research, and the best practices of archiving, memorialization, scientific method, and social history, the project serves as both a guide and resource for scholars across disciplines and among diverse organizations.

Guiding principles

The guiding principles of the consortium are:

• Responsible and ethical stewardship of physical remains and of the cultural significance, and scientific value of resources
• Research guided by descendant and descendant community input
• Adherence to prevailing disciplinary standards of practice
• Shared scholarship across disciplines and effective dissemination of data
• Alignment with UMMC missions: education, health care, research

Community partners

• Mississippi Department of Archives and History
• Mississippi Museum of Art
• Mississippi State Hospital
• Mississippi Humanities Council
• Mississippi Library Commission
• Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University
• The National Historic Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives