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• Full Finding Aid
• Overview
• Arrangement
• Scope and Contents
• Related Material
• Other Finding Aids
• Access Restrictions
• Acquisition Information
• Access Terms
• Detailed Description

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New York State Office of Mental Health Patient Admission, Discharge, and Parole Registers

Some content may contain outdated and offensive terminology. See: New York State Archives Statement on Language in Descriptive Resources

Overview of the Records

Arrangement

20279-00: Arranged by creating institution.

20279-01: Arranged in four subseries. Subseries 1, Admissions and discharges, 1877-1956, 6 volumes; Subseries 2, Admissions, 1891-1977, 19 volumes; Subseries 3, Admissions by county, 1876-1936, 6 volumes; Subseries 4, Discharges and paroles, 1886-1954, 11 volumes.

20279-23: Roughly chronological.

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.

Related Material

20200Series 20200 Patient Admission Lists consists of similar records and may duplicate information contained in this series.

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Volume lists are available at the repository.

Acquisition Information

This series was transferred under RDA 20279.

Access Restrictions

Restricted in accordance with Mental Hygiene Law, Section 33.13, relating to confidentiality of clinical records. Access is permitted under certain conditions upon approval by the Office of Mental Health.

Access Terms

Detailed Description