New installation "File/Life" tells stories of Pennhurst State School
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For almost eight decades, more than 10,000 people with disabilities lived at the Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Chester County. Now, a group of archivists is telling their stories at the Arch Street Meeting House.
It's history coming to life and it's called File/Life: We Remember Stories of Pennhurst. The installation is opening Thursday morning.
The installation tells the stories of the people who lived at Pennhurst and it runs through this weekend only.
"Pennhurst was one of the largest of the 14 institutions once run by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Lisa Sonneborn, from Temple University's Institute on Disabilities, said. "It has a really special place in the history of the disability movement, both locally and nationally. So the stories have been told in many ways by many people, including disabilities scholars and historians, and all those accounts are really important to our understanding of Pennhurst."
"But we've wanted to tell the story in a new way, in a way that centered the voices of people with disabilities and their family members. So that's really the beating heart of File/Life," Sonneborn added. "We invited seven community archivists, all people with disabilities or family members of people with disabilities to visit the state archives, choose files that resonated with them and tell their stories in new ways and in creative ways. And maybe in doing that connecting the past with the present."
The installation will be open from Thursday through Sunday at the Arch Street Meeting House in Old City.
It runs from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. On Sunday, it'll be open from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Admission is free, but organizers recommend reserving a ticket.