Description | The collection includes patient records, administrative records, correspondence, staff records, financial records and photographs of the Royal Scottish National Hospital from its creation in 1862 to shortly before its closure in 2002.
The patient records cover 1863-1996 and include admissions registers (1863-1988); registers of discharges and removals (1864-1962); applications and case files (1865-1954); registers of deaths (1879-1951); registers of accidents (1892-1980); records of expiry of detention orders (1915-1987); registers of escapes (1935-1968); registers of restraint and seclusion (1937-1968); and student evaluations (1929-1924 and 1993-1996).
The administrative records include annual reports (1862-1948); superintendent's reports (1863-1872); inspection reports by the Commissioners in Lunacy (1865-1962); minute books (1863-1969); daily registers, a daily statistical return on the numbers of patients (1940-1948); a visitors book including comments from overseas medical professionals (1885-1928); newspaper cuttings (1913-1957); and administrative files (1915-1997).
The correspondence includes letter books of outgoing letters by the Superintendents Alexander Skene and Dr Robert Durward Clarkson, (1881-1912); later correspondence files of Superintendents Dr Spence and Dr Methven and Deputy Superintendent Dr Edith Chalmers (1943-1956); and correspondence concerning admissions (1919-1955).
The staff records are limited and only include two registers. However, there is staff information in a number of other sections particularly the correspondence files.
The financial records include cash books (1881-1948); bank books (1939-1948); salaries information (c1924-1971); rent registers (1954-1970s); and a register of employment of residents (1955-1959).
The photographs are a mixture of originals and copies. They date back to c1910 and many of them were used in the publication 'The Royal Scottish National Hospital 140 Years' by Guthrie Hutton. There are no case note photographs.
The hospital changed its name over time from the Scottish National Institution for the Education of Imbecile Children between 1863 and 1915 to the Royal Scottish National Hospital when it closed. The name used in the item titles is that appropriate to the final covering date of the item.
During the Second World War the premises of the Royal Scottish National Hospital at Larbert were largely taken over by the military and run as the Base or Larbert Hospital' for military personnel. Some civilians, such as refugees, were also treated there. The records for the military hospital are not in the collection. |