These medical case histories of patients at the Augusta Mental Health Institute span the years 1840-1910 and are in leather-bound volumes 01-40.

The numbered, paginated volumes that provide personal medical histories for patients from October 1840 until 1910 have a relatively structured, chronological format and often extensive entries. Volumes provide the patient’s name, dates of admission and discharge (by hospital staff), removal (by family), or death, the patient’s place of birth, marital status, a brief diagnosis, and multiple dated entries by the attending physician that describe the patient’s condition. Page numbers continuing individual patient records are noted at the bottom of the pages. An index of patients is located at the beginning or end of each volume. Volume 14 does not have an index. Some volumes have misnumbered or missing pages. Volumes 1-23 are mixed genders. Volumes 24-40 are either all male or all female patients.

These patient histories reflect the treatment practices and terminology of the time. Some of the language and treatments are not considered acceptable today and may be uncomfortable for some readers. Recognizing that historical medical terms do not always completely or directly map to contemporary terms, that historical terms can be offensive or inaccurately characterize a condition, and that the presence of both historical and contemporary terms may be useful for researcher discovery, the archivist has attempted to employ contemporary terms as they appear in the context of the collection in the description.

The collection is still in the process of being imaged. This gallery will be updated periodically with new records.