Syracuse State School Admission, Discharge, Death, and Transfer Records,

Arranged in nine sub-series: Subseries 1, Descriptive Registers, 1851-1913, 6 volumes; Subseries 2, Admission Registers, 1851-1920, 10 volumes; Subseries 3, Admission Books, 1909-1925, 5 volumes; Subseries 4, Books of Admissions, 1932-1945, 3 volumes; Subseries 5, Admission/Discharge Registers, 1885-1924, 3 volumes; Subseries 6, Discharge Books, 1907-1927, 4 volumes; Subseries 7, Discharge Registers, 1932-1940, 2 volumes; Subseries 8, Admission/Death/Transfer Registers, 1891-1930, 7 volumes; and Subseries 9, Unbound Registers of Admissions, Discharges, and Transfers, 1929-1940, 2 sets of unbound pages.

Within each subseries, roughly chronological by admission or discharge date, or sometimes by institution or patient number.

Records in this series document those admitted, discharged, and transferred at the New York State Asylum for Idiots (1851-1890), the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded Children (1891-1918), the Syracuse State School for Mental Defectives (1919-1925) and the Syracuse State School (from 1926). Information is also present in some volumes for death, parole, and escape (elopement). Records are arranged roughly according to admission date, with much chronological overlap, and considerable annotations (postdating admission dates) throughout. Record keeping changed considerably as the institution developed, and the information requirements and volume format vary accordingly.

Information in subseries 1 and 2 is descriptive and includes family history data gathered at application, as well as data from individual physiognomic and phrenological evaluations. A few rare photographs of applicants accompany the earliest descriptions. Entries in subseries 3, 4, and 5 are more statistical, with brief, often abbreviated information. Discharge information becomes a separate element in volumes of subseries 5, and is the primary listing in subseries 6 and 7. A more "modern" institutional format that combines admission, discharge, death, and transfer entries appears in subseries 8 and 9.

B1664Series B1664, Record of paroles/releases

B1645Series B1645, Hereditary analysis of applicants for admission

B1662Series B1662, Record of deaths and

B1665Series B1665, County admission registers, contain related records.

Subseries 1: Alphabetical surname index at fore of volumes 1 and 2.

Subseries 2: Alphabetical surname index at fore of each volume.

Container list and a detailed narrative describing types of information present in each subseries are available at the repository.

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 for People with Developmental Disabilities.