SDCAS is proud to present another chilling Halloween themed lecture, given by our resident supernatural (and archaeological/anthropological) experts. Quarantines, decrepit buildings, and hauntings. Asylums of many different types have long been associated with images of dank towers, long corridors, and nefarious staff. Why are some of the scariest places on earth also places where people were once sent for healing and hope? In this year’s talk we explore the history of sanitariums, and asylums in the western world beginning in the medieval period through to the early 20th century. A cautionary note that this presentation may include photos of human remains.

Presenters:

Karen Lacy has over 18 years of museum and writing experience as well as a Master’s degree in Museum Science and a Bachelor’s in History with minors in Art History and Anthropology. She recently completed a second Masters in Anthropology at San Diego State University. Karen co-founded Muse Curatorial Consulting Group, a company that specializes in collections care, training, grant writing, and exhibit development of archaeological, historic, library and archive materials. Previously, Karen was the Collections Manager of the San Diego Museum of Man for seven years and the Curator of Exhibits of the San Diego Air & Space Museum for 5 years.

Sandra Pentney has called herself an archaeologist for 18 years. Born, raised and educated in Canada, she moved to the US after said education showed her that choosing a career based mostly on being out of doors in a climate where the out of doors was frozen and under two feet of snow for 5 months of the year wasn’t the best choice. She spent the first five years in the U.S. enjoying fieldwork in the very temperate climate of California, and now is firmly planted indoors at a desk for 49 weeks out of the year. Sandra received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and her Master of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, which no one outside of Canada seems to be able to pronounce.