New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Patient Admission Lists

Chronological by year, then by facility.

Prior to 1978, the Dept. of Mental Hygiene was responsible for various services to the mentally disabled and mentally ill and for treatment oversight. It received patient admission lists from various public and private treatment facilities throughout New York State.

Despite the 1978 split of the department into the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD), facilities under the jurisdiction of OMRDD continued to send their admission lists to the OMH central files unit until 1983. Subsequently, OMH staff separated the admission lists into two groups: those facilities under OMH jurisdiction; and those under OMRDD jurisdiction.

The series consists of admission lists from those institutions under jurisdiction of the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) from 1978 on, as well as those Department of Mental Hygiene facilities that were of a type that would have come under OMRDD jurisdiction had it existed prior to 1978.

The lists are included in 96 volumes. The volumes are arranged chronologically by year, with the 1927-1974 lists in 92 bound volumes and the 1975-1983 lists in 4 binders. For the period 1946-1974 separate volumes were used for private and public facilities; otherwise the lists from both types of facilities are combined into single volumes.

The arrangement of lists within each volume varies over time. Through approximately 1942, the lists are arranged by month, with the lists from various facilities intermingled. During later years the lists are weekly by facility, with the facilities arranged alphabetically for each year within the volume.

The informational content of the lists varies slightly over the years. Most commonly, lists show patients admitted to the facility during the designated time period; date admitted; name; birthdate; age; citizenship status; town of residence; legal status (certified, voluntary, physician's certificate, criminal order, etc.); and the name and mailing address of a legally liable relative or guardian. Lists include a department-assigned identification number. Some of these categories are omitted (or left blank) at times, while additional information (e.g., brief comments on patient condition) are occasionally included on some lists.

Container list is available at the repository.

Restricted by Mental Hygiene Law Sect. 33.13. Access may be permitted in certain circumstances upon application to and approval by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.