Maine Insane Hospital Autopsy Files, 1912-1913

These autopsy reports reflect the treatment practices and terminology of the time. Some of the language and treatments are not considered acceptable today and may be uncomfortable for some readers. Recognizing that historical medical terms do not always completely or directly map to contemporary terms, that historical terms can be offensive or inaccurately characterize a condition, and that the presence of both historical and contemporary terms may be useful for researcher discovery, the archivist has attempted to employ contemporary terms as they appear in the context of the collection in the description. As the autopsies and pathology notes were often completed at different dates later than the date of death, the archivist has employed the date of death as the record creation date for consistency.