| What's Happening |
| Latest News: In the coming weeks we will be revamping the website, giving the Foundation its own website and allowing this site, hiawathadiary.com, to be what it was originally intended - a website for the movie project. The intention of the Foundation website will be to provide educational information regarding the asylum and its patients, along with information regarding various projects such as the Historical Marker Fund Drive and our search for artifacts from the asylum. Also, we will be adding a page regarding visiting the asylum site in the near future but until then, please remember, if you visit the cemetery, you are a visitor there to pay your respects. The Friends of Hiawatha Foundation does not in any way condone or encourage altercations or confrontations with members of the Canton community. It is not the purpose of this Foundation to be protestors but representatives of an important piece of history that was swept beneath the rug for a very long time and incorrectly reported on when it was discussed over the years. We have never quite addressed the issue of the city of Canton today as opposed to the city several of us within the Foundation dealt with fifteen to twenty years ago. It seemed more important to get what information we had out there in the beginning. Now, several years later, the topic seems appropriate given the continuing evolution of the topic and how we must deal with it in each set of circumstances. We have found the people in Canton more receptive to this topic today and people researching and looking for information regarding the asylum need to remember that the people of Canton today are not responsible for the sins of their forefathers, many of the families who were placed in the uncomfortable situation of working under Dr. Hummer left the area long ago. Those who live in Canton today acknowledge the asylum is part of the town's history far and they have a fervent desire to see its history presented correctly. Also, while it's an accepted given that a golf course should have never been built around the cemetery the fact remains is that it is there and the Country Club DOES take very good care of the grounds. There are also a few golfers who have gone out of their way to help people get to the cemetery when the greens have been crowded - not all golfers are looking to bean visitors with golfballs. So, remember, if you go in search of information for school papers or books or you go to pay your respects to those who were lost to the asylum. Be respectful and mindful of the members of the Canton community. |
| November 21, 2008 |