Vanishing Past

My name is Jim Boles, I am a Western New York, native and retired CEO of People Inc., a Western New York health, and human services organization.  In 1998 I founded the Museum of disAbility History in Buffalo, New York and received the Hervey B, Wilber Historic Preservation Award for my work with the museum.   Under George W Bush I served for two terms on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Now retired, I lecture and write about the past.  I have a strong interest in preserving the area’s history and promoting cultural tourism.  I am interested in local history, early social services, health care, healing, and people’s reaction to history.

I now write for Vanishing Past Press, the corporate headquarters is located at one end of our family room.   The purpose of Vanishing Past Press is to encourage, develop, publish, and market works of scholarship and cultural importance, with a focus on under-examined or unexplored history.

Titles by Jim Boles:

Some of these books can be found Amazon (linked below).

• No Harm was Done: Alternative Medicine in Lockport New York
• Stories from the Springs- The Niagara Frontier 
• Dr. Skinners Remarkable School for “Colored Deaf and Dumb, and Blind Children, James M. Boles and Michael Boston
• When There Were Poorhouses The Gold Cure Institutes of Niagara Falls, NY
• They Did No Harm-Alternative Medicine in Niagara Falls, NY
• Abandoned History, Lockport New York 2017
• Ivan the Invacar Series: children’s books; superhero, disability related

Contributed:

• On The Edge of Town: Almshouses of Western New York -Publisher
• No Offense Intended: A Directory of Historical Disability Terms -Editor
• Abandoned Asylums of New England: A Photographic Journey by John Gray -Publisher, contributor
• Buffalo State Hospital: A History of the Institution in Light and Shadow, published by the Museum of disABILITY History, Buffalo New York -Contributor
• J.N Adams Memorial Hospital-Her Inside Voice by Char Szabo-Perricelli, published by the Museum of disABILITY History, Buffalo New York -Publisher, editor
• Buffalo State Psychiatric Hospital: An Inside Report from the 1950s, by Patricia Kautz, published by the Museum of disABILITY History -Contributor
• Path to the Institution: The New York State Asylum for Idiots by Thomas E. Stearns -Executive Editor
• Beautiful Children: The Story of the Elm Hill School and Home for Feebleminded
• Children and Youth by Diana M. Katovitch -Editor
• Of Grave Importance: The Restoration of Institutional Cemeteries by David Mack-Hardiman -Contributor