The Asylum Hill Project is a multidisciplinary effort to oversee the excavation of a 19th and early-20th-century cemetery located on the grounds of what is now the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. The cemetery, operated by the Mississippi State Insane Asylum from 1855 to 1935, occupies the last undeveloped space on the land-locked campus. Dr. Ralph Didlake leads the Asylum Hill Research Consortium, a group of scholars from various disciplines formed to develop a plan for the respectful exhumation of the remains in the cemetery. In addition, the project will preserve, rigorously investigate, and promote the public history and scientific value associated with all aspects of the asylum. Further, the project is structured to honor the experience and legacy of the individuals who were its patients over a crucial 80-year period in the history of medicine, mental illness, disability, and social institutions in the State of Mississippi.
The Asylum Hill Research Consortium strives to be a model for investigation, civic engagement, and education in the medical humanities and bioarcheology. Using evidence-based research and the best practices of archiving, memorialization, scientific method, and social history, the project serves as both a guide and resource for scholars across disciplines and among diverse organizations.
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