The Long Island Psychiatric Museum

Did you know that there is a Psychiatric Museum on Long Island?Well,it's right here in Brentwood.The museum is located on the second floor of Building 45 at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.It opened in November 2002,at a ceremony which featured the unveiling of a Directors Wall.

For many years,there were three mental health hospitals on Long Island:Pilgrim,Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital,and Kings Park State Hospital.Only Pilgrim State still remains open,currently housing about 600
patients in a small part of its original campus(The other two closed in 1996).The museum contains artifacts from all three of them.Its exhibits feature photographs of patinets and staff members,artwork and furniture made
by patients,and a centerpiece diorama of the Pilgrim campus created by New York University students in 1934.

The museum was the brainchild of Pilgrim director Alan Weinstock,who came up with the idea while serving as
Deputy Commissioner of the Office Of Mental Health in Albany.Weinstock told Newsday,"It just struck me we had all this history we couldn't afford to lose".He said the exhibits made him "feel nostalgic".He said,"It makes me feel good that the public now has the opportunity to share this history".