First Report of Central Lunatic Asylum

Each new asylum was required by state law to issue an interim report within its 120 days of operation. The report covered detailed information in chart form about each person admitted as well as information about the overall operation of the hospital. The annual reports included up to 30 statistical tables written by hospital staff and the director, aimed at giving the legislature and governor a detailed look at the progress of the facility.

These reports were available to the general public and to the news media and helped form the basis of the budgetary requests made by the hospital's lay board and superintendent. Subsequent reports provided summary data from the opening of the facility, allowing for statistical, financial, and staffing comparisons by year and decade.