This addition is divided into five series: ADMINISTRATION, FINANCIAL, INMATE AND PATIENT INFORMATION, MISCELLANEOUS, and VISUAL MATERIALS. The series are arranged in alphabetical order, as are subseries. In some subseries, such as the Orders for Commitment and the Burial Permits, the records for the Asylum and Poor Farm came to us combined (i.e. Asylum and Poor Farm records were not filed separately).
The series of ADMINISTRATION records contains correspondence, newsletters, and reports. Reports include information on residents from other counties, general financial information and resident demographics, and the number of poor families in the county who were helped with food and firewood by the Poor Farm. The monthly reports provide a snapshot of what occurred during the month such as amusements, activities, religious services, statistical summary of population, numbers of patients in occupations and restraint, admissions and returned patients, deaths, discharges, restraint and seclusion. The monthly reports include payroll information such as name, occupation, and amount paid.
The FINANCIAL series contains billing information for patients and inmates, employee information, and annual inventories of property and goods. There is also information from the 1950s to the 1960s used to determine patient rates and insurance reimbursement amounts.
The series INMATE AND PATIENT INFORMATION provides personal information on patients including names, ages, reason for admission, age, financial status, nationality, education, marital status, sometimes occupation and religion, and guardianship/discharge/transfer/death information. Burial permits give name, place of burial, date and place of death, cause, and attending physician. The commitment papers were alphabetized in 2002 by an unknown person and an index was created, but that index is not in our possession. The papers for inmates and patients with last names beginning with “O” or “U” are missing from the collection. Their location is unknown. There is some overlap between the commitment papers, various patient information volumes and the previously processed portion of the collection, but no one person could be located in all locations, and the information included in each location varies. Some of the volumes appear to contain information on both inmates of the Asylum and residents of the Poor Farm.
The MISCELLANEOUS MATERIAL series includes a guest book from the 1960s, alcohol and narcotic permits, news clippings, and some information from the Resident's Council.
The VISUAL MATERIALS series includes photographs, original artwork, posters, calendars, and scrapbook pages, the bulk of this material documenting the old age home from the 1950s to the 1960s. The majority of the materials in this series appear to have been collected or created by Else Heine, a resident and librarian of the Home and former librarian for the Capital Times newspaper.
The photographs document group activities and day-to-day life at the Home, primarily for the elderly residents, the “Gray Ladies” of the Red Cross, and the building and grounds. A number of the photographs were made by photographers from the Capital Times with some used in news stories about the Home, such as the 1953 dedication of the new building. In addition to the photographs, the Activity Posters and Calendars also illustrate the types of activities available to the residents, such as the annual bus trip to view lilacs at the UW Arboretum, outings, lutefisk suppers sponsored by Mr. William T. Evjue, and dances. The Artwork by residents provides evidence of one type of therapy available to the residents. Additional activities and possible therapies documented include images of residents farming and sewing and one individual who translated books into Braille.
The residents are occasionally identified in this series, but given the context of the newspaper stories already putting the information in the public record the series is not restricted.
