Admissions, by Jennifer Sowle

Stripped, showered and drugged, Luanne Kilpi's life as wife and mother is turned upside-down as she enters the world of the insane. After her attempted suicide following the death of her three-year-old son, Luanne is admitted to the Traverse State Hospital where she now lives with locked doors, long hallways, gowns, moans and shouts, restraints, pills, little fluted cups and a sparse tiny bedroom. She is an admission. On Hall 5, the reader is introduced to the group of young women who become Luanne's friends and support. We see the realities of their conditions and watch them struggle through muddled emotions to make sense of their world. Author Jennifer Sowle's lyrical prose illuminates Luanne's raw emotions of overwhelming grief as she struggles on her journey from despair to hope. Set on the expansive grounds of the State Hospital, vivid imagery brings to life a cast of characters from the duty nurses to the groundskeeper to the chronically ill patients. This is a book that makes you stand up and cheer for the resiliency of the human spirit.

ISBN#9781933926247                                                                       $19.95

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Angels in the ARCHITECTURE, by Heidi Johnson

This series of photographs documents and illuminates some of the most significant nineteenth-century architecture still left standing in the state of Michigan.  Many structures at the Northern Michigan Asylum site have been demolished, but those left standing are now being preserved.  Buildings of this grace, grandeur, and detail will never be build again, and the sense of urgency to preserve them is real.

ISBN#9780814332122                                                                       $29.95

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Beauty is Therapy, by Earle Steele and Kristen M. Hains

From horse-drawn wagon rides to school through five decades of tending majestic trees at the gothic Traverse City State Hospital, Earle Steele colorfully and compassionately shares tales of life and how it was lived at The Asylum, a city-within-a-city that once housed 5,000 mentally ill patients.  In a series of letters to his granddaughter, this groundskeeper’s son recounts a childhood of befriending patients and his years as gardener, grounds superintendent and museum curator at an institution where the dictum was “beauty is therapy.”

ISBN#9780970477804                                                                       $10.95

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Northern Michigan Asylum, by William Decker, M.D.

A comprehensive history of the third Asylum built in the State of Michigan in 1885, the Traverse City State Hospital. Author William Decker, M.D. researched the location of historic buildings, hospital personnel and administrators, patient treatment modalities, the spacious grounds and extensive tree plantings, livestock barns used at the hospital farm and interesting trivia and incidents. This most ambitious and complete book contains more than 100 historic photos and illustrations, footnotes and an index.

ISBN#9781933926254                                                                       $50.00

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Traverse City State Hospital, by Chris Miller

This book traces the history of this great institution, from the local and mental health context in which it was founded, through its growth, development, and decline, and finally to its renovation and preservation as a vital part of the Traverse City community.  More than 200 photographs and images are provided, including many of the features and buildings long gone.

ISBN#9780738533896                                                                       $21.99

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