Research


Scope and Content Note

These registers were created by mental health facilities to document patient admissions and discharges. The registers typically provide patient name, nativity, date of admission or discharge, date of birth, chronological number, race, and religion. Other information varies but occasionally includes occupation, education, names and addresses of relatives, legal and civil status, and comments.

20279-00: Institutions documented by this accretion include Kings Park Psychiatric Center, Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, Central Islip Psychiatric Center, Suffolk Psychiatric Center, Hoch Psychiatric Center, and Northeast Nassau Psychiatric Center.

20279-01: This accretion consists of registers created by the staff of Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital (later Middletown State Hospital) for the purpose of officially admitting, discharging, and paroling patients. Information, which varies according to both format and date, is recorded in columns. Subseries 1, 2, and 4 are chronological; subseries 3 is arranged first by county, then by date.

Subseries 1, Admissions. Information in the registers includes the following: discharges are recorded on the recto, admissions on the verso; patient name; date; consecutive admission or discharge number for the year; if discharged patient convalescent status or deceased. Volumes of shorter date span seem to have been used for working copies; some information is replicated in volumes in subseries 2. Volume 6 (1948-1956) includes ward numbers and admitting doctor's name.

Subseries 2, Admissions. This subseries contains information relating solely to patient admissions. Recorded information includes name, date, residence (town, city, or county), transfer status and transferring institution, admission status (public, private, indigent, or criminal). Later volumes include case number, consecutive number for the year, case book volume page number, and date of certification. From 1913 volumes are in typescript, some registers summarize admissions by week.

Subseries 3, Admission by county. These registers are indexed by county at the front. Information includes name, residence, date of admission, correspondent, number from county, case number, duration of condition before commitment, time of leaving asylum, convalescent status at time of discharge. County patients appear on the upper half of pages, private patients appear on the lower half of pages.

Subseries 4, Discharges and paroles. Information contained in these registers includes name, date, condition, and case or identification number. Deaths are often noted separately. Following 1913, information in typescript is frequently accompanied by typed reports from physicians attached to the reverse of the page.

20279-23: This accretion contains admission, discharge, and death registers for Hudson River Psychiatric Center.