Series 1 contains records created at Bloomingdale during the course of the patient’s admission, treatment, and discharge.

Records of a patient’s admission begin with medical certificates and other paperwork found in the Obligations, Permits, and Medical Certificates for Admission (1831-1915), certifying the patient for admission. Subsequently the patient’s admission and discharge were then recorded in registers that document, on one line per patient, the patient’s name, date of admission, age, cost of board, security (the contact responsible for the patient), marital status, occupation, diagnosis, date of discharge, and notes concerning the patient’s condition. The New York Hospital’s bylaws had directed the physician of the asylum to keep these registers since 1821, and they were the primary method of record-keeping until 1891 when Bloomingdale adopted a systematic record of complete histories which included more information about a patient’s progress and treatment notes beyond what was included in the registers.

Records of the patient’s treatment were kept in Case Books (1835-1883) and Medical Files (1862-1932). These include narrative reports of the patient’s condition, court documents, lab results, charts, and details of the patient’s death or discharge. They may also include other collected materials relating to the patient such as newspaper clippings, photographs, and letters. Patient cases that the physicians thought were noteworthy were recorded in the case books and were made available in the Bloomingdale library for research and education.