Institutional Records

Institutions are those from any time period that provided residential care for a group of people in similar circumstances who likely could not care for themselves without assistance. This covers a wide range of people: from those convicted of crimes, to veterans of war, those suffering from disease or mental illness, to the financially destitute, or orphaned children.

Originally the local poor house may have served many purposes, housing all those that could not care for themselves - whether they were poor, physically disabled, mentally ill, or sick. Some were required to care for others in the house, or work on the farm near the house. Often these places became run-down and unsanitary, with residents too close together transferring diseases and other issues. Once populated with children, late reforms of the 19th century separated young children from their families in poor houses and placed them in orphanages, and later, foster homes.

Like these children taken from poor houses, many children in orphanages had at least one living parent that was unable to care for them. Some only stayed a short while in orphanages, returning to their families or other relatives after a year or less. Others became indentured servants (some against their family’s wishes) and were sent off to perform manual labor (read about the Orphan Trains that sent children to farms in the Midwest).

The use of both orphanages and poor farms slowed after World War II, as families became more financially stable after 1935’s Social Security Act and related programs.

Care became more specialized with different forms of institutions. The blind were sent to schools for the blind, the mentally ill were sent to state hospitals, and and veterans of wars were sent to their own hospitals and homes.

The federal government ran prisons for those convicted of federal crimes, and supported veterans with homes and hospitals. Local states ran their own correctional institutions, and some counties created their own jails. Private prisons became widespread as well, especially after the Civil War. Many early prisons were used for physical labor, including in factories or on plantations.

All of these different type of institutions may have been run by local government counties or towns, charitable sponsors or nonprofits, religious groups, fraternal organizations, or private corporations. These places usually kept their own records, and can be difficult to find today.


Types of Institutions (and some alternative names):

  • Poor house, poor farms, almshouses, county farm, city home

  • Correctional Institutions: Jails, Prisons, Workhouses

  • Insane Asylums, Mental Hospitals, State Lunatic Hospital, State Hospitals, County Farm; Psychiatric Hospital;

  • Medical Hospitals: Infirmary, Tuberculosis Sanatorium; Rest Home; Rest Retreat; Convalescent Home; Maternity Hospitals

  • Orphanages, Asylums for Children, State School for Dependent Children, Children’s Home, Children’s Home Society, Home for Foundlings, Home for Friendless Children, Orphan School

  • Veterans: Veteran Hospitals, Homes for Disabled Soldiers, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Homes

  • Nursing Homes; Long Term Care Facilities; Rehabilitation Center;

  • Boarding Houses; Boarding School

  • Schools: Schools for the Blind, Deaf, or Dumb; Reform School, Industrial School; State School for the Developmentally Disabled; School for Feeble Minded Children


How to find these records

Check home sources, and then interview family members and relatives of your research subject. Perhaps you’ve heard family stories about a great-aunt that spent time in a mental hospital, or an uncle that was “sent away to a home” as a child. It’s always best to reach out to see if anyone can offer more information before you do the heavy digging.

Also look for gaps of time, or brick walls in your research. Can’t find an ancestor in a census record? Or can’t find their death certificate? They may have been in an institution during that time, whether it was an insane asylum, a hospital, a prison, a boarding school, or someplace similar.

If you know the name of the institution where your ancestor spent time, first check to see if it is still in existence. Keep in mind the name may have changed, but the present hospital or institution may hold the same records. Contact their administration or follow the rules on their website for historic record requests.

If the place is not still around, research the history of the place through online records, collections, and websites. Try to determine where the records are held. Check state archives, historical societies and museums, town and county history books, religious groups, and libraries.

See if you can match up the time period they were open with the date you believe your ancestor to have been there, and look for photographs and lists of people. There may be admission papers, census population lists, discharges, and indexes of onsite burials.

You may be able to request historic institutional records, though health records may be closed or restricted to family members due to privacy laws, in which case you may need to prove your relationship (or sometimes open to the public after a certain amount of years, or sometimes only opened with a court order).

Census Records can offer many answers. If you can’t find your relatives in a regular census where they should appear, check the names of nearby institutions, either on the same census or supplemental census records or state census records. Note that residents may be referred to as “inmates” on census records, even if not in a correctional institute.

Certain census records may also show a mark in the column for insane persons. The 1880 census also has columns for blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, and disabled. This 1880 census has a supplemental schedule for the defective, dependent, and delinquent classes, also known as the DDD schedules.

Death records or certificates may show time in hospitals, especially if they died or were buried there, as many institutions had their own cemeteries. Cause of death may be another indicator of time in an institution. If one died from tuberculosis (also known as consumption or phthisis) they or one of their family members may have spent time at a hospital or sanatorium. Obituaries may list institutions as well.

Court records can contain committal records of those sent to mental health hospitals (see these examples from Central State Hospital records thanks to the Kentucky Historical Society). Within them they may have testimonials or reports from family members and associates about the mental condition of those judged to be insane, as well as other records like estate inventories made at the time of commitment. Court records could also have probate records or wills which may describe time in institutions or list children sent to orphanages if no other care was available. Adoption cases or guardianship appointments could also be found in court files.

Medical history can be found in pension records or other military files. You may found applications or discharges from disabled soldiers’ and sailors’ homes or evidence of stays at veterans hospitals.

Below find various collections of many types of institutional records. These are just a few selections and is by no means comprehensive or complete. If you don’t see what you need below, continue searching for similar online collections, or find out where to request the files from.


Asylums, Hospital Records, Sanatoriums:

Poorhouse, Poor Farm & Almshouse Online Collections

Records for the Deaf, Blind, or Dumb:

Military Records, Veterans Hospitals, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Homes:

Children’s Homes, Orphanages

Prison Records

Reform schools and juvenile correctional institutions

Additional Sources and Reference:


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