The Wild Girl of Brushvalley Township

THE WILD GIRL OF BRUSHVALLEY TOWNSHIP is a short documentary film chronicling the story of a woman named Minnie Adams who is buried anonymously in grave number 948 in Dixmont State Hospital Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The film tells the story of her life through interviews with historians and genealogists, a visit to the local historical society, and the newspapers from the early1900s that sensationalized her institutionalization in graphic detail for the public interest. Through animations constructed from archival material, the film reclaims Minnie’s story from sensationalist public gossip imagining an alternative history for a woman who was failed by her family and society.