CALL FOR CONTENT SUBMISSION

Do you have photographs, documents or stories of Hudson River State Hospital to share? Can you help us get high-quality public records like floor plans and blueprints? If so, please reach out to us with the following information:

• The nature of the content (photos, text, drawings, etc)
• Quantity (10 photos, 150 photos, etc)
• Ownership/attribution information
• Quality of content - data size, metadata accuracy, is GPS data present, can you label the photos accurately, etc

Please do NOT submit actual content at this time!

Mission statement and intent

My hope is to build this site into an accessible, durable and functional archive of content, where people interested in HRSH's history can organize and view information.

This website was first published 8 June, 2026, by a person who cares about the history of architecture and public works. Several days prior to publication, the most valuable parts of the original structure were lost in a massive fire.
Many excellent organizations exist that advocate for Kirkbride buildings and collect information about them. However, there is not one central repository of historical, archival, official and amateur documents relating to HRSH specifically. I want this website to serve that purpose.

Broad goals

• Honor the complex history of HRSH by preserving artifacts and stories
• Implement an archive that people want to contribute to, and make it:
  • Lasting
  • Accessible
  • Performant
  • Trusted
• Build community

To meet those goals, I want to implement:

Object-oriented database(s)

- Images, writings, maps, plans, clippings, books, etc (probably not video content due to hosting costs)

- Community-submitted, moderated content with metadata tagging, attribution and licensing support

- Prefer direct archival of freely-licensed media; willing to link to 3rd parties (e-books, coffee table photo books for sale, etc)

- lightGallery or similar to enable large content galleries

Interactive map(s) dynamically linked to content

- 2D/3D layered map viewer

- Architectural drawings

- Dynamic linking of content to coordinates (click buildings or areas to see photos from that area)

Rememberance & reader submissions page

- Space for former workers, associates, patients, and relatives of HRSH to submit stories

Advocacy / community

- Other preservation organizations

- Fundraisers

- Related news

Coming soon

• Contact information & email support for domain ✅ Implemented 8 June 2026
• Links to major sources and prominent preservation orgs ✅ Implemented 9 June 2026, more content to be added over time
• Rememberance page and submission guidelines

Roadmap for image database (WIP)

• Establish schema for object metadata
• Migrate existing site code into a static site generator framework
• Establish content collection schema, EXIF scraping, etc
• Deploy a proof of concept clickable map with linked image galleries
• Implement and test sorting and filtering
• Expand to include additional buildings, maps, geodata viewer, etc