New York State Department of Mental Hygiene Patient Admission Lists

Chronological by year, then by facility.

Prior to 1978, the Department of Mental Hygiene was responsible for various services to both the mentally disabled and the mentally ill, and for treatment oversight. In the furtherance of its mandated responsibilities, it received patient admission lists from public and private treatment facilities throughout New York State.

When the department split into the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD), staff separated the admission lists into two groups: those from facilities under OMRDD jurisdiction (including facilities that were of a type that would have come under OMRDD jurisdiction had it existed prior to 1978); and those that were, or would have been, under the jurisdiction of OMH.

The series consists of patient admission lists from those institutions that were of a type that would have come under the jurisdiction of OMH had it existed in the period 1908-1974. The lists are bound into 447 volumes, arranged chronologically by year. For the period 1946-1974 separate volumes were used for private and for public facilities; in other years, the lists from both types of facilities are combined into single volumes.

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; birth date; age; citizenship status; town of residence; legal status (certified, voluntary, 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 the categories are omitted (or left blank) at times.

20279 Office of Mental Health Patient Admission, Discharge, and Parole Registers contains similar records.

Container list is 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 of Mental Health.