REC/GOV/179. Special Care Sanatorium, State.

This artificial record group was created for all materials relating to state-run, special-care hospitals, specifically tuberculosis hospitals. All institutions included in this collection were created or administered by the State Tuberculosis Commission (RG 016). Among the sanatoria created by the Tuberculosis Commission was Uncas on Thames Sanatorium in Norwich. It was opened in February of 1913. In 1932 a surgery unit was added. In the earlier days of the Tuberculosis Commission, all surgery that was performed in the state was done under the direction of the chief Surgeon, who had facilities at Uncas. Laurel Heights Sanatorium in Shelton was formerly known as the Shelton or Fairfield County Sanatorium and was opened in August 1910. Cedarcrest was the second of the sanatoria to be formed in 1910 in the Hartford Area. The Director of the Laboratory of Pathology and Research who performed the post-mortem exams, biopsies, and clinical pathological conferences and related research was located at Cedarcrest. The smallest and most recent of the sanatoria was Seaside. Architect Cass Gilbert designed the facility. Seaside admitted only children under the age of 15, whereas the other sanatoria admitted only patients over 15. Because of Seaside, Connecticut was considered a pioneer in providing special institutions for children. Most patients at Seaside had bone tuberculosis. Records in this collection include administrative files, autopsy reports, laboratory reports, patient registers, publications, training manuals, school records (Seaside), and patient files.