University of Stirling Archives

This week we transferred the first of the Stirling District Asylum case books which have been cleaned and catalogued by our project team to the archives store. Another element of the project to prepare the archives of the Asylum for public use is the creation of a database of patients who were admitted to the hospital. The asylum’s patient registers record details of the admission and discharge of those treated in the hospital and this information is being carefully recorded and transcribed by our project team.

The registers provide fascinating information relating to the lives of the patients recording their age, marital status, previous occupation and place of abode. Medical details such as bodily condition, form of mental disorder and ‘supposed cause of insanity’ are also recorded. Alongside the standard medical reasons given some of the more unusual ‘supposed causes’ noted in the hospital’s first register, beginning in 1869, include ‘loneliness and religious contemplation’, ‘excessive use of ardent spirits’, ‘disappointment in love’ and ‘severe blow on temple from a golf ball.’ Another reason given is ‘Sunstroke’ – this however, was for a former soldier who suffered it while stationed in India. The registers also note if patients were previously admitted to the hospital and/or transferred to other institutions, which provides valuable information when trying to trace the movement of patients through the network of Scottish asylums. 

The patient registers are a source of detailed social and medical information.

The creation of this database of asylum patients will be of great benefit in a number of ways. It will provide a quick and efficient way of searching the records for individuals, assisting us in responding to genealogical enquiries. It will also reduce the actual handling of these old and damaged volumes, contributing to their long-term preservation. And for academic researchers it also allows the possibility of re-using the large amount of tabular / statistical information recorded in their research allowing, for example, breakdowns of the patient population by occupation or ‘place of abode.’

A gap in the Scottish archival record has been filled with the transfer of the archives of Stirling District Asylum to the University of Stirling. Part of a larger transfer of historical records to the University Archives by NHS Forth Valley, the records of Stirling District Asylum (later known as Bellsdyke Hospital) provide a detailed account of the care and treatment of mental health patients in Central Scotland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This semester we have begun work on a project with a team of student volunteers (thanks Catherine, David, Ian and Jennifer!) to prepare these records for public consultation in our archives reading room.

The case books contain enclosures such as letters relating to the treatment of patients.

The project team will be working on a set of 50 volumes of case books which provide detailed records of the care and condition of patients in the hospital beginning in 1869. These volumes were working documents, regularly updated by medical staff. They include many enclosures relating to the treatment of patients – both medical records such as temperature charts and personal material such as correspondence. From the 1890s onwards the case books also include photographs of the patients which are pasted onto the pages of the volumes, a common practice also seen in contemporary case books from other Scottish asylums.

From the 1890s onwards photographs of patients were pasted into the pages of the volumes.

Basic cleaning of the volumes is being carried out, with dust and surface dirt being removed using conservation-quality natural hair brushes. The enclosures, many of which are secured to the pages of the volumes with metal clips and pins are being carefully removed to be stored alongside the volumes. Further cleaning of the pages of the volumes is then carried out where required using chemical sponges – conservation-quality cleaners which carefully remove the dust and grime which has accumulated over more than a century of use and storage.

Surface dust being removed from the pages of a case book with a brush.

Once cleaned and catalogued these volumes will be made available for use in our archives reading room. Academic researchers across a range of disciplines will find a wealth of social, historical and medical material in the records. Comparative studies with other Scottish Asylums will also be possible for the first time. The collection will also be of interest to family historians, opening up a new source of genealogical information.