Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Collection includes a timebook with entries for 1860-73, the Fourth Annual Report of the institution dated 1859, a copy of an act of the W.Va. Legislature dated 1863, changing the name of the institution to "Lunatic Asylum at Weston", and a freight bill presented to the institution dated Nov. 19, 1868. The timebook contains a month by month listing of the employees, their occupations, the number of hours worked, and the amount paid. The annual report summarizes the expenses of the institution, including the operating expenses and the cost of keeping patients. There is also a report of the modifications made in the buildings during the year. One of the many tables provides a listing of those under treatment telling the date of admission, sex, form of insanity, probable cause, age at first "attack," occupation, residence and result. Another table compares W.Va. to asylums in other states and still another provides a classified listing of expenses for the year.

Letters and letter copy book belonging to the superintendents of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. The letters copied into the book were written by Dr. R. Hills, the superintendent of the asylum when it first opened to patients in 1864. These letters relate to the conditions of various patients in the asylum. There are also loose letters interleaved in the pages of the book written by or adressed to later superindents, including William A. Pratt and William Bland. These later letters mostly relate to purchases of food and other supplies for the hospital.