December 16, 2008: Welcome to the official site for the Friends of
Hiawatha Foundation. The Hiawatha Diary site will remain up
and running for the movie project - which as most everybody
knows is just hanging tight until somebody is willing to invest the
money to reveal history, not make a Hollywood movie.
In turn, this site will provide information regarding the Hiawatha
Asylum, its history and the various projects the Foundation is
developing to raise public awareness.
Please look around and familiarize yourself with this new site -
we have added some items of interest such as pictures of recent
discoveries and an ever growing bibliography for those
interested in research. There are one or two pages still under
construction at this time but for the most part the entire site
should be accessible.
Hiawatha Foundation. The Hiawatha Diary site will remain up
and running for the movie project - which as most everybody
knows is just hanging tight until somebody is willing to invest the
money to reveal history, not make a Hollywood movie.
In turn, this site will provide information regarding the Hiawatha
Asylum, its history and the various projects the Foundation is
developing to raise public awareness.
Please look around and familiarize yourself with this new site -
we have added some items of interest such as pictures of recent
discoveries and an ever growing bibliography for those
interested in research. There are one or two pages still under
construction at this time but for the most part the entire site
should be accessible.
NEWS
 |  |
| January 19, 2009: January 2009 marks the 75th Anniversary of the closing of the Hiawatha Asylum. While the majority of the patients were transferred or released by the end of the year in December of 1933, the hospital itself remained open as employees were transferred to new locations. By the end of January, 1934, the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians finally sat vacant. For the next seventy-five years it became both a deep dark secret and a point of reactionary violence between Indians from all over and the City of Canton. Marches were held, protests took place, there were arguments and violent outbursts, there was limited release of information inhibited by the reality that journalists didn’t often know where to look and the few who held the keys to that information many times refused to release it. And in all that time little was done to remember the dead. There is nothing there today to indicate to the naked eye that the asylum even existed. One has to literally stand in the midst of the cemetery to know something happened there. Since last summer we have been working towards purchasing the historical marker that will commemorate the victims of the asylum. Many of you have offered your support and just as many have made donations. We appreciate all that has been done and we know that times are rough right now, but now is time for things to come together - in spite of the economy and tough times, we must see this project through to completion. We ask everybody to please make a donation - even if it’s $1.00 or even .50 - it all adds up. Right now we need to raise $1787.05. That’s it. If we can raise this amount the marker can be up before summer. The Hiawatha Foundation is grateful to the many people who want to see this project succeed, but we know that there are just as many who wish to see it fail. There are people who do not want the truth revealed, individuals who feel it best to keep the past hidden beneath a cloak of secrecy and lies, those people stand in wait for us to fail in our goal. Every day that there are no donations towards the marker is another day that those who wish to see us fail succeed and the victims of Hiawatha remain forgotten. We need your help and your willingness to donate: http://www.hiawathafoundation.org/HistoricalMarker.html Help us make sure that the victims of Hiawatha are never forgotten again. The Friends of Hiawatha Foundation ________________________________________________________ |
September 6, 2009: We are pleased to announce
that Dr. Todd Leahy, the collegiate authority on the
Hiawatha Asylum, has released his book, They
Called It Madness. This book compiles all known
history of the asylum and is a must for those
researching the asylum. There's a direct link for
the book's Amazon page through the resource page
and we thank Dr. Leahy for the vast amount of
knowledge and information he has brought to us in
the past several years.
We have also acquired a full list of the patients who
were transferred to St. Elizabeth's when Hiawatha
was closed. This list is also available through the
resource page.
_____________________________________________
that Dr. Todd Leahy, the collegiate authority on the
Hiawatha Asylum, has released his book, They
Called It Madness. This book compiles all known
history of the asylum and is a must for those
researching the asylum. There's a direct link for
the book's Amazon page through the resource page
and we thank Dr. Leahy for the vast amount of
knowledge and information he has brought to us in
the past several years.
We have also acquired a full list of the patients who
were transferred to St. Elizabeth's when Hiawatha
was closed. This list is also available through the
resource page.
_____________________________________________
July 2010: 2009 marked the 75th Anniversary of the closing
of the Hiawatha Asylum. Sadly, we were unable to obtain the
marker during that time. Also, with the recession and so many
people out of work, not to mention the BP disaster in the gulf,
we have now frozen donations regarding the marker. We will
continue to try and raise the money on a local level, it is
important to get the marker set. We're currently in talks with
two private individuals who are considering putting up the
remainder of the money need to purchase the marker. Right
before we froze donations we received a very special
donation in honor of the Preyin' Eagle Singers of Mesa AZ.
We'd like to say a special thank you to that individual and wish
the best to the group.
We're also going to be undergoing some site renovations in
the next few weeks. In an attempt to be cost efficient we are
going to go to one website URL, eliminating the Hiawatha
Diary website. Information regarding the movie project, if
there is any, will soon be located in the projects section.
There's also been some problems with the link regarding the
Hiawatha patients sent to St. Elizabeth's - we're hoping to get
that fixed as well.
Dr. Leahy is sending more pictures and information regarding
the asylum, as soon as those arrive we'll make sure they're up
on the site.
of the Hiawatha Asylum. Sadly, we were unable to obtain the
marker during that time. Also, with the recession and so many
people out of work, not to mention the BP disaster in the gulf,
we have now frozen donations regarding the marker. We will
continue to try and raise the money on a local level, it is
important to get the marker set. We're currently in talks with
two private individuals who are considering putting up the
remainder of the money need to purchase the marker. Right
before we froze donations we received a very special
donation in honor of the Preyin' Eagle Singers of Mesa AZ.
We'd like to say a special thank you to that individual and wish
the best to the group.
We're also going to be undergoing some site renovations in
the next few weeks. In an attempt to be cost efficient we are
going to go to one website URL, eliminating the Hiawatha
Diary website. Information regarding the movie project, if
there is any, will soon be located in the projects section.
There's also been some problems with the link regarding the
Hiawatha patients sent to St. Elizabeth's - we're hoping to get
that fixed as well.
Dr. Leahy is sending more pictures and information regarding
the asylum, as soon as those arrive we'll make sure they're up
on the site.