Presenters Barbara Blumenthal (above right) and Ellen Meeropol (left) will discuss the truths of Northampton State Hospital in both fact and fiction in their March 3 Zoom talk.
“History reflects life from the outside in. Fiction reflects life from the inside out.” This quote from historical novelist Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa offers a scaffolding to understand the local history and emotional truths of the Northampton State Hospital.
Join historian Barbara Blumenthal and novelist Ellen Meeropol on a virtual walk around the hospital grounds to explore what happened here, from both the outside in and the inside out. “Fact and Fiction” will feature photographs, the historical record, and short readings from Ellen's novel The Lost Women of Azalea Court.
Barbara Blumenthal is a professional bookbinder and book-arts historian, and was rare-book specialist in the Smith College Mortimer Rare Book Room for 35 years. She is co-author and editor of Paradise Printed & Bound: Book Arts in Northampton & Beyond, and has lived on Hospital Hill for nearly 50 years. She is a member of the Northampton Historical Commission.
Ellen Meeropol is author of the novels The Lost Women of Azalea Court, Her Sister’s Tattoo, Kinship of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest, and was guest editor for Dreams for a Broken World. She also has published many recent essays and stories and is a founding mother of Straw Dog Writers Guild. Ellen lives on Village Hill.