On October 23rd, 2023, a memorial honoring the unmarked graves in Mt. Hope Cemetery was revealed. Spearheaded by St. John Fisher’s Dr. Ryan Thibodeau of the Psychology department, “Invisible No More: Honoring the deceased buried in the public section of Mount Hope Cemetery” honors those buried at Mt. Hope that had died at the Monroe County Almshouse, Monroe County Penitentiary, and Monroe County Insane Asylum (later Rochester State Hospital, currently Rochester Psychiatric Center). Since this isn’t the first time Dr. Thibodeau has brought this kind of history to our campus, I had the honor of sitting down and discussing his passion for bringing this to light.
Dr. Thibodeau’s interest in the history of mental illness, psychiatry, and social welfare started about 2017 when he toured the former Buffalo State Hospital. If you’re familiar with the Buffalo area, you may know it now as the Richardson Olmsted Campus. The Romanesque inspired building hosts many businesses including Richardson Hotel Buffalo. The tour provides insight on the history of the Buffalo State Hospital, what happened there, along with what they’re doing for renovations.
About a year and a half ago, Dr. Thibodeau helped to bring “The Willard Suitcases” exhibit to our art gallery which highlights those that stayed at the Willard Psychiatric Center in Ithaca. Both “The Willard Suitcases” and “Invisible No More” share a common thread – local history. As he’s learned more about the history of these local institutions, the more Dr. Thibodeau has wanted to share what he’s learned. Since history is so vast, Dr. Thibodeau has kept his focus to the mid to late 19th century. It was during this period in time that the creation and expansion of public state hospitals became prevalent.
Like we hear many similar discoveries around the country, the unmarked graves were discovered during a construction project in Highland Park back 
in the 1980s. Dr. Thibodeau learned of these graves back in 2020 when WXXI published a story about the unmarked graves, along with a brief glimpse of the history behind the gravesite. He also revealed the inspiration behind the memorial came from a documentary he saw in 2020 centered on the cemeteries at the former Athens Lunatic Asylum in Ohio to help identify and recognize those buried in Athens. For those interested, they can check out the documentary on WOUB.
After a lengthy process, the project was approved. The memorial holds a great importance to Dr. Thibodeau as in some cases, the people buried in the public section have been invisible to the public eye for 150 years, and he is very pleased that the memorial finally pays tribute to those people. He is also excited about educating the public regarding this fascinating history of our city.
As the unveiling approached on the 23rd, Dr. Thibodeau and the committee working on the project had hoped there would be a decent crowd attending this historic event. Thankfully, a crowd of around 100 people attended to witness, learn, and honor the deceased.
Dr. Thibodeau hopes “Invisible No More” not only educates the Rochester community about what happened regarding mental health during this time in history, but to provide a venue where the community can honor the dead. While most people who would have known those in the institution have passed, he would also love if their descendants are able to identify if their family member was among the forgotten in Mt. Hope. Dr. Thibodeau would also like for community members to think about the current challenges related to the social problems that caused people in history to open these institutions in 
the first place – mental illness, poverty, and crime. What about our current policies are working? What isn’t working about them? The stigma around mental health has definitely decreased significantly since the mid 19th century, but what can we do to further drive it out of society?
Be sure to read more about the ceremony on St. John Fisher’s website and on WHEC. If you would like to visit the memorial in Mt. Hope Cemetery, a pin on Google Maps should be coming soon!
