The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is January 2025)
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Institutional records are another class of collections that should be part of one’s genealogy research repertoire. Although most of your ancestors may not have spent time in an institution, I’ll bet that almost every family tree has several that have. So they are worth your effort to research.
Here are a few good primers for searching institutional records:
- FamilySearch – Institution and School Records
- Finding Your Ancestors in Poor House or Poor Farm Records
- Researching Ancestors in Asylums
What kind of institutions and types of records can we discover?
- Poorhouse
- Poor Farm
- Orphanage
- Orphan Train
- Mental Hospital
- Workhouse
- Almshouse
- Institutional School
- Sanitarium
- Asylums
- Correctional institutions
Acquiring records from each of these types of institutions may be difficult because of privacy concerns, but they are worth the effort.
Below you will find free online institutional records you can use to help you discover more about your relatives who have spent time in an institution.
Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Idaho Online Institutional Records
- Ada County, Idaho County Inmates at the State Penitentiary
- Ada County, Idaho State Penitentiary Cemetery
- Ada County, The Old Idaho State Penitentiary Cemetery
- Bingham County, Register of Prisoners, 1959-1977
- Bingham County, State Hospital South Cemetery
- Bingham County, State Hospital South Cemetery
- Bingham County, Widows and Orphan Records, 1913-1927
- Bingham County, Widows and Orphans, 1905-1989
- Clearwater County, State Hospital North Cemetery
- Fremont County, Idaho Industrial Reform School Cemetery
- Fremont County, Idaho Industrial Training School 1930 Census
- Idaho County, Hillcrest Cemetery AKA Poor Farm Cemetery
- Idaho County, Poor Farm Cemetery Burials
- Idaho County, Poor Farm Census Records
- Idaho County, Poor Farm Deaths
- Idaho County, Poor Farm Owners and Keepers
- Idaho, Idaho Penitentiary Index of Inmates Associated with the Mining Industry 1864-1910
- Idaho, Idaho Penitentiary Inmates Files Collection 1948-1975
- Idaho, Idaho Penitentiary Inmates, Women, 1864-1947
- Idaho, Inmates of the Idaho Penitentiary 1864-1947
- Idaho, Penitentiary Female Inmates 1864-1947
- Idaho, Penitentiary Inmates 1864-1947
- Idaho, Penitentiary Inmates 1948-1975
- Idaho, Penitentiary Inmates Who Were Miners, 1864-1947
- Idaho, South Idaho Insane Asylum, 1930 Index of Inmates
- Idaho, State Hospital North Cemetery
- Idaho, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, Prisoners, Insane, In Hospitals, 1917-1918
- Oneida County, Register of Prisoners, 1894-1915
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!