Lost Souls: Reforming Minnesota's Mental Health Institutions a PBS Community Screening and Q&A
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A documentary uncovering Minnesota's troubled mental health history and those who fought for change.
Free and open to the public, this premier community screening will be followed by a Q&A with retired director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society, Chris Schulke, author of "The Crusade for Forgotten Souls" Susan Bartlett, and Pioneer PBS producers of "Lost Souls" Susan Marks and Dawn Mikkelson.
Background:
In 1946, Engla Schey, daughter of Norwegian immigrants, raised in Northern Minnesota, hitchhiked to a conference to sound the alarm bells. Minnesota’s mental institutions, along with rest of the nation’s, were in crisis and the patients who lived within those high walls were experiencing inhumane conditions. At the time Engla, a psychiatric hospital attendant turned mental health rights activist, played a unique role in the first wave of institutional reform. In 2018, Susan Bartlett Foote released the book, The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions, 1946-1954, telling Engla’s story within the greater story of sweeping changes in Minnesota’s approach to mental health treatment.
On October 15, 2026, at 7pm, Pioneer PBS will premiere Lost Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Health Institutions, a documentary inspired by the work of Engla Shey and a host of Minnesotans who fought for the fair treatment of institutionalized patients. This movement is an example of what was transpiring across the nation. Lost Souls unearths the history of Minnesota’s state hospital and how they were destined for reform.
Free and open to the public, this premier community screening will be followed by a Q&A with retired director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society, Chris Schulke, author of "The Crusade for Forgotten Souls" Susan Bartlett, and Pioneer PBS producers of "Lost Souls" Susan Marks and Dawn Mikkelson.
Background:
In 1946, Engla Schey, daughter of Norwegian immigrants, raised in Northern Minnesota, hitchhiked to a conference to sound the alarm bells. Minnesota’s mental institutions, along with rest of the nation’s, were in crisis and the patients who lived within those high walls were experiencing inhumane conditions. At the time Engla, a psychiatric hospital attendant turned mental health rights activist, played a unique role in the first wave of institutional reform. In 2018, Susan Bartlett Foote released the book, The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions, 1946-1954, telling Engla’s story within the greater story of sweeping changes in Minnesota’s approach to mental health treatment.
On October 15, 2026, at 7pm, Pioneer PBS will premiere Lost Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Health Institutions, a documentary inspired by the work of Engla Shey and a host of Minnesotans who fought for the fair treatment of institutionalized patients. This movement is an example of what was transpiring across the nation. Lost Souls unearths the history of Minnesota’s state hospital and how they were destined for reform.
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Where is it happening?
124 W Lincoln Ave, Fergus Falls, MN, United States, Minnesota 56537
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherA Center for the Arts
