Annual Reports of State Commissions and Institutions Overseeing the Mentally Ill

Arranged by commission/institution.

The series consists of published single copies of annual reports by various commissions and institutions having responsibility to monitor the mentally disabled (including those with the seizure disorder of epilepsy). The volumes were part of a collection of reports maintained at the Willard Psychiatric Center library, most likely for research purposes and later as historical references.

The reports are all related in content, in that the reporting organizations had management oversight of those deemed to be mentally deficient, or as in the case of the State Commissioner in Lunacy, the responsiblity to examine the condition of the insane and idiotic in the state and the management and conduct of public and private asylums and other institutions for their care and treatment.

The following volumes are included in the series: the 15th annual report of the State Commissioner in Lunacy (1887) filed pursuant to Chapter 446 of the Laws of 1874; 20th annual report of the manager and officers of the Craig Colony for Epileptics at Sonyea, Livingston County (1913); the 29th annual report of the State Hospital Commission (July 1, 1916-June 30, 1917) filed pursuant to Chapter 118 of the Laws of 1916; and a copy of the official rules and regulations governing duties of employees of state institutions (1938).

Inserted in the report of the Craig Colony is an 1888 photograph of the resident officers of the Willard Asylum for the Insane (the photographer was a brother of one of the officers, who later worked as a doctor at the Colony).

Volume list.

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