Asylums

Scope and Contents The collection consists of a minute book, 1887-1902, of the Massachusetts Infant Asylum. The volume contains minutes of the monthly meetings of the Asylum’s directors and the annual and special meetings of the corporation. Some miscellaneous items, such as lists of officers, are interleaved in the volume. The minutes are arranged chronologically. The minutes of the Asylum’s board deal primarily with policy, goverance, financial, and administrative affairs. The board minutes include information...

Booksellers' description Patient index included.240 entries with patients' names, family histories, financial status, and mental state. The records contain detailed information about patients' occupations, whether taxes had ever been paid, original depature sites, ships sailed on, time in America, and extensive genealogies. A number died while in the hospital; many were dispersed to different locations. Occasionally, ship's passage was arranged for people to go home. Some records note the prognosis but in...