Series 2148: Mississippi State Hospital Patient Registers. 1855-1973.
Health Institutions (RG 56). Mississippi State Hospital (Whitfield).

Series 2148: Mississippi State Hospital Patient Registers. 1855-1973.
Health Institutions (RG 56). Mississippi State Hospital (Whitfield).

      Books (called address books, registries, and admission and discharge registers) relating to patients at the Mississippi State Hospital and its predecessors, the State Insane Hospital and the State Lunatic Asylum. There is quite a lot of variation in contents for the various volumes: some volumes give a great deal of personal information about the patients and others give very little; some volumes record both admission and discharge dates, whereas others record only admissions, or only discharges. Some of the volumes are arranged chronologically by date of admission or date of parole [patient’s temporary leave from hospital], while others are arranged alphabetically by last name of patient. All but one of the items in this series are bound volumes; the sole exception (one of the earliest patient registers) is available only on microfilm. Most of the registers are identified by race (“White” or “Colored”). Where the racial designation for a volume is unclear, a question mark has been used.
      In order to help researchers identify particular registers, the old “volume numbers” these items were once assigned by MDAH archivists have been retained. Volumes 10 through 13 document only admissions, for the most part. A very few discharges are noted in Volumes 10 and 11, and none are recorded for Volumes 12 and 13. Volumes 17 through 20 document only paroles and discharges; no admissions.

A note on dates: Two sets of dates are noted for each volume below. The first set of dates records the earliest and latest dates that appear in the volume, whether for admissions or discharges. The second set of dates refers to the time period that particular volume seems to have been most heavily used, and when most of the dates in it were recorded, whether for admissions or discharges.