Abstract
The Lost Alaskans Morningside Hospital History Project (MHHP) is a grassroots community archival project documenting the nearly 3,500 Alaskans who were institutionalized at a private psychiatric hospital in Oregon from 1904-1960. Through semi-structured interviews with volunteers and researchers, this article analyzes the MHHP’s online patient database as an experiment in guerrilla virtual reunification—digitally reuniting scattered archival records outside of institutional partnerships. The study highlights two pairs of competing archival virtues: privacy and access, and independence and sustainability. The research underscores how community archives navigate ethical, legal, logistical, and affective challenges in their goal of documenting marginalized histories. In particular, the article discusses the fragility of grassroots digital preservation and the special challenges in documenting and identifying institutionalized people.
Keywords
community archives, virtual reunification, history of medicine, sustainability, privacy
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-10-2025
Recommended Citation
Bach, S. A case study of guerrilla virtual reunification from the Morningside Hospital History Project: privacy and access, independence and sustainability. Arch Sci 25, 52 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-025-09519-4
DOI
10.1007/s10502-025-09519-4
Notes
This version of the article has been accepted for publication after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post- acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10502-025-09519-4