Remembering the dead

The copper canisters, left, are among some 3,500 containing remains of individuals unclaimed by their relatives when they died at a psychiatric hospital, in Salem, Ore., between 1883 and the 1970s. David Maisel ’84’s photographs of some of the canisters, most of which long ago lost the labels identifying the individuals, are collected in “Library of Dust,” published by Chronicle Books this month. The hospital, formerly known as the Oregon State Insane Asylum and now as the Oregon State Hospital, was the site of the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Maisel’s photographs of the canisters are featured in exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum, on view through Dec. 6, and at Portland’s Blue Sky Gallery, running through Nov. 2. He was scheduled to speak about his project at Princeton’s School of Architecture earlier this month.