{"id":13559,"date":"2022-06-18T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=13559"},"modified":"2022-06-16T14:20:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T20:20:58","slug":"hhsc-preserving-history-of-austin-state-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=13559","title":{"rendered":"HHSC Preserving History of Austin State Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Archaeologists Excavated More Than 6,500 Artifacts on Hospital Campus<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viewing Display: Crowds viewing the display of Austin State Hospital artifacts during a mental health event at the Bullock Museum on May 19, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

AUSTIN \u2013 As part of the revitalization of the Austin State Hospital, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is preserving the history of the state\u2019s oldest psychiatric hospital, including more than 6,500 artifacts that archaeologists have found at the campus. From June through October, a small collection will be displayed at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The hospital opened in 1861. It is now undergoing a transformation that includes the construction of a replacement hospital that will open in November 2023. During the construction of the new hospital, archaeologists have been excavating around the campus to recover and conserve artifacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cAs we continue to discover these precious artifacts, we\u2019re getting some unique insight into how psychiatric care has evolved over the past century in Texas,\u201d said Scott Schalchlin, HHS deputy executive commissioner of the Health and Specialty Care System. \u201cThis knowledge not only gives us a glimpse into the past, it also propels the future of mental health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Retrieving Sewing Machine: Staff members of the Bullock Texas State History Museum retrieve an industrial sewing machine from Austin State Hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Some of the artifacts showcase the self-sufficiency of the hospital that once had its own power plant, water system, carpentry shop, mattress factory, sewing room for clothing and bedding, ice factory, cemetery, and farm that included crops and livestock. Archaeologists have found farming tools, industrial sewing machines, and thousands of porcelain buttons that were popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Other artifacts include items that give some perspective about life inside the hospital, including game pieces like marbles, board game markers, and checkers pieces. Archaeologists made some other discoveries including several military buttons from WWI and WWII and some Native American stone tools.
The excavations began in October 2019 and continue with the ongoing construction at the campus. HHSC is preserving the artifacts, and there is a chance for the public to view a small collection of them. From June through October, some of the artifacts will be displayed at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. The display highlights the evolution of the state hospital system, including an \u201cAustin State Hospital\u201d sign from 1925, which marked the year the hospital\u2019s name was changed from \u201cTexas State Lunatic Asylum.\u201d Pictures of some of the artifacts, the Bullock Museum display, and the archaeology efforts can be seen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Archaeologist Workspace: Kathryn Siefker, Curator of the Bullock Texas State History Museum, and Nadya H. Prociuk, Ph.D., Principal Investigator on the ASH Construction Project, selecting artifacts to be displayed at the Bullock Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The preservation of the hospital\u2019s history also includes the digitization of documents including medical records, personnel documents, and construction documents. Some of the records are more than 100 years old. For more information about the document preservation project check out this link https:\/\/www.hhs.texas.gov\/news\/2022\/02\/project-will-help-preserve-aging-austin-state-hospital-records<\/a>
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Construction at Austin State Hospital
<\/em>HHSC partnered with Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin to design and construct a 240-bed replacement hospital at ASH. It will have private rooms for each patient and ten 24-bed units that each have therapy rooms, classrooms, exercise rooms, an activity\/multipurpose room, and other therapy spaces. Once construction is completed in November 2023, the building will replace the current hospital and allow staff to provide psychiatric care under one roof, instead of multiple buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Farm Tool: The remnants of this farm tool speak to the decades of farming and gardening that took place on campus by both staff and patients.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Porcelain Buttons: Archaeologists found countless buttons and sewing notions where the tailor shop once stood at Austin State Hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists Excavated More Than 6,500 Artifacts on Hospital Campus AUSTIN \u2013 As part of the revitalization of the Austin State Hospital, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is preserving the history of the state\u2019s oldest psychiatric hospital, including more than 6,500 artifacts that archaeologists have found at the campus. From June through October, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13559"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13565,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13559\/revisions\/13565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}