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.
Oregon Online Institutional Records
- Coos County, Poor Farm Cemetery
- Marion County, 1930 Census Oregon State Insane Hospital Employees
- Marion County, Asylum Cemetery
- Marion County, Herren Cemetery AKA Mill Creek Correctional Cemetery
- Marion County, Oregon State Hospital Patient Memorial
- Marion County, Oregon State Insane Hospital Patients 1930 Census, page 1
- Marion County, Oregon State Insane Hospital Patients 1930 Census, page 2
- Marion County, Oregon State Insane Hospital Patients 1930 Census, page 3
- Marion County, Oregon State Penitentiary Cemetery
- Marion County, State Training School for Boys Cemetery
- Marion County, Terrell Cemetery AKA County Farm Cemetery
- Multnomah County, Poor Farm Admissions Records, 1900-1962
- Multnomah County, Poor Farm Admissions Records, 1900-1962
- Multnomah County, Poor Farm Cemetery
- Multnomah County, Poor Farm Ledger
- Oregon and Washington, Donation Land Claims by Orphans, 1867-1873
- Oregon, Inmate Records
- Oregon, Oregon State Hospital Alphabetical List of Cremains
- Oregon, Oregon State Hospital Unclaimed Cremains
- Oregon, Oregon State Penitentiary Record of Inmates
- Oregon, Oregon State Penitentiary Record of Inmates Families
- Oregon, Register of Veterans at National Home for Disabled Veterans
- Oregon, State Hospital and Hawthorne Asylum Commitment Records
- Oregon, State Hospital Death Records
- Oregon, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, Prisoners, Insane, In Hospitals, 1917-1918
- Umatilla County, Eastern Oregon State Hospital Cemetery
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!