THE HOSPITAL HISTORY PROJECT
Current Contributors
JENNIFER BAZAR
Curator, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre
Jennifer Bazar is the Curator of the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre. She completed her doctoral degree in the History and Theory of Psychology program at York University where she specialized in the history of mental health institutions. Prior to arriving at the Interpretive Centre, Jennifer completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care and the University of Toronto where she created the Remembering Oak Ridge Digital Archive and Exhibit.
Through the exhibits, tours, and events hosted by the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre, Jennifer aims to engage a public audience with the unique local histories of the Lakeshore Grounds. She is particularly committed to de-stigmatizing mental health care by contributing to open discussions about the history of institutionalization.
NADINE FINLAY
Assistant Curator, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre
Nadine Finlay is the Assistant Curator at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre and a double master’s candidate in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her professional focus is in Museum Studies, and Archives and Records Management, with an emphasis on engaging different communities to build more positive connections with museums with special interests in Ontario and Canadian heritage.
Starting as a volunteer, Nadine became a summer intern, and now the Assistant Curator as she completes her degrees. She has curated several exhibitions including: CHIME Digital Exhibits, SO THIS IS TEACHING, and In Your Eyes, as well as contributing to surrounding tours and programming for Birds Eye View, Moccasins ReVamped, Take Back the Tap, and In Your Hands; as well as guiding several tours and workshops about local history.
Her current projects with the Centre include researching Heritage Reports of the Lakeshore Grounds, cataloguing the Interpretive Centre collection, and a Project Team member for developing several new exhibits and programming.
SHAYNA FOX LEE
Volunteer
Shayna Fox Lee is a doctoral student in the Historical, Theoretical, and Critical Studies of Psychology program at York University. Her research focuses on mindfulness in the psy-disciplines, 20th century psychology-based communalism and large group therapies.
At the Interpretive Centre, Shayna is conducting a practicum involving the establishment of a digital archive for the history of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital.
Past Contributors (in alphabetical order)
BEN MITCHELL
Assistant Curator, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre (2016-2017)
Ben Mitchell was the Assistant Curator at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre during its opening year. While there, he helped the Curator design exhibits, give lectures, research the histories of the grounds, and run tours of the old tunnels beneath the campus.
He designed a small exhibit on the sordid history of the true crime novel Echoes in the Darkness (which received a miniseries adaptation that was filmed on the Lakeshore Grounds) and the lengths that its author, Joseph Wambaugh went to in order to make sure his book was a success. When not curating for justice, he was obsessing over bees, and ran a workshop on how to build a bee hotel for native bee species.
He is grateful for his time at the Interpretive Centre, and how he was able to use his skills, knowledge, and experience to help others like himself who have felt injured and isolated because of the ways in which they were neurodiverse in a world that did not understand them, or care to understand them, and how this affected their mental health and quality of life.
KARA SEGUIN
Programming Assistant, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre (2016-2017)
Volunteer (2017-2018)
Kara Seguin is a recent graduate of the Social Service Worker program at Humber College and also holds a History degree from Algoma University. Kara was the inaugural Work Study Student at the Interpretive Centre and continued to volunteer her time during her second year at Humber College. As a student, she was an active volunteer for many campus events and in residence. In her spare time, she is an avid museum goer, baker, reader, and coffee lover.
The Hospital History Project records ongoing research focused on the history of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. Content is currently being added on a decade-by-decade basis.
For an update on the project, please visit the project's home page.
416-675-6622 ext. 3801