September 2006 Edition

St Patrick’s Hospital: Launch of Guide to Archives

In September 2007 St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin, the pioneering psychiatric hospital founded by the will of Jonathan Swift, will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the admission of its first patients. In preparation for this important milestone, the hospital is seeking to encourage interest in its preserved heritage. The launch of a brief guide to the archives is seen as an important tool for publicising the availability of the hospital’s records for research.

The new guide outlines the history of the hospital and the development of the archives, explains what records are held and lists a variety of research topics that could be explored. A more detailed description is contained in the hospital’s official history Swift’s Hospital by Elizabeth Malcolm (Dublin, 1989).

Earlier this year a computerised index of patients mentioned in a variety of sources covering the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was completed. This enables a more efficient approach to an initial enquiry as to whether a certain individual was a patient at the hospital. It also allows easy identification of recurring admissions of the same patient. There is a minimum closure period of seventy-five years for patient records. Indexing of twentieth-century patient records has begun and will be carried out on an ongoing basis. Among the patients already indexed are the poet Austin Clarke, who recorded some memories of his experience in the poem Mnemosyne Lay in Dust. Among the fields included in the index are county and occupation, making it possible to examine occupational causes of illness, such as the impact of the Great Famine on priests.

Those wishing to make an appointment to visit the archives should contact the office of the Chief Executive Officer, St Patrick’s Hospital, St James’s Street, Dublin 8 (Tel: 01 2493200). Enquiries can be sent to <archivist@stpatsmail.com>.

Andrew Whiteside
St Patrick's Hospital