Research

Scope and Content Note

As part of its investigation, the Commission undertook an extensive survey of the mentally deficient in New York State and held public hearings to gather additional evidence on the scope of the problem. This series primarily contains correspondence relating to the survey and public hearings.

The majority of the correspondence is from physicians, state and local government officials, private charitable agencies, and school administrators responding to requests for survey information or to invitations to attend public hearings. The correspondence contains some statistical information on numbers of mental deficients in individual counties. The series also contains several reports submitted by public schools and training schools providing information on number of students and program of instruction. The most extensive report is from the New York Clearinghouse for Mental Defectives, New York City, with description of case registration, diagnosis, placement, and other procedures.