Case Books

Crichton Royal Institution Case Books, 1839-1885; Southern Counties Asylum Case Books, 1839-1885; Male Case Books 1840-1937; Female Case Books 1845-1937; Chronic Case Books, 1845-1904; Other Case Books, 1899-1906. Volumes contain the case notes for all patients admitted, and comprise details of admission and patient history, followed by case note entries describing patient's attitude, treatment and response. Case notes were not always entered at regular intervals and the level of information provided can vary greatly at different periods. Often case note entries were made only when an incident or a notable change occurred. In many volumes, especially the Male and Female Case Books, DGH1/5/21/3 and DGH1/5/21/4, additional clinical material is attached to pages including clinical charts, laboratory test results and post mortem summary sheets. Further additional material appended to pages includes photographs, newspaper cuttings and administrative documents. The majority of case books had loose items interleaved in their pages which included correspondence, clinical records, administrative material and photographs. Where this occurred the loose items were removed and 'Enc' marked on the pages they were removed from. The loose enclosures are housed in separate folders and shown in the catalogue as DGH1/5/21/1/7a, etc. Dates relate to dates of patient admission, except Crichton Royal Institution Case Book vol. 8, DGH1/5/21/1/8; Chronic Case Books, DGH1/5/21/5 and Other Case Books, DGH1/5/21/6. For Male Case Books, Female Case Books and Chronic Case Books the date of the last case note entry has also been included in the description. Patients often appear in multiple volumes of Case Books due to various factors including moving between different departments (e.g. from the First House to the Second House), readmissions or the duration of their stay. All volumes are indexed at the front.

1839-1937

129 volumes and 107 folders

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.