Because the papers include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Confidential Health Information.
Because of staff constraints and the lack of a name index, Archives & Special Collections cannot search for individual records. Microfilm of much of Presbyterian’s post-1929 patient records are held by the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Medical Records Department and persons wishing to locate the records of individuals should contact them.
Boxes 1-3 are stored off-site and will take 1-2 days to retrieve. Researchers must call in advance to use the collection.
An incomplete set of medical records of children seen at Babies Hospital, 1889-1929. Information varies over time but usually includes patient name, age, sex, address, medical history, description of complaint, diagnosis, treatment, and result. Later records may include temperature charts, and laboratory and radiology reports.
After 1929, Babies Hospital's patient records were interfiled with those of Presbyterian Hospital.
History and Biography
Babies Hospital was founded in 1887 by five women to provide “medical and surgical aid and nursing for sick babies.” It was the first hospital in the country solely devoted to the care of children under the age of three and became one of the leading US centers of the emerging medical specialty of pediatrics. During this period its medical directors were L. Emmett Holt (1888-1924) and Herbert B. Wilcox, Sr. (1924-1930).
Babies Hospital affiliated with Presbyterian Hospital in 1925. It moved from its original location at Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street in 1929 to occupy its own building on the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. In 1943, it merged with Presbyterian but retained its name. It was later called Babies and Children’s Hospital and since 2003 has been known as Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. It also serves as the department of pediatrics of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Organization
By case number in rough chronological order, with separate case number series for outpatients and private patients.
An incomplete set of medical records of children seen at Babies Hospital, 1889-1929. Content varies over time but usually includes patient name, age, sex, address; medical history; description of complaint; diagnosis; treatment; and result. Later records may include temperature charts, and laboratory and radiology reports. From 1929, Babies Hospital’s patient records were interfiled with those of Presbyterian Hospital.
| Original Volume Number | Case Numbers | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-249 | Aug. 1889 – Nov. 1890 |
| 2 | 250-500 | Nov. 1890 – Dec. 1891 |
| 5 | 1001-1390 | Dec. 1893 – Feb. 1895 |
| 8 | 1801-2029 | March – Nov. 1896 |
| 10 | 2201-2500 | April 1897 – Feb. 1898 |
| 12 | 2801-3100 | Nov. 1898 – Nov. 1899 |
| 14 | 3400-3649 | Aug. 1900 – March 1901 |
| 17 | 4000-4200 | Jan. 1901 – Nov. 1902 |
| Box | Case Numbers | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 467-8775 | May 1907 – May 1914 |
| 2 | 26230-28661 | June 1925 – Nov. 1926 |
| 3 (Outpatient Department) | 2-58962 | Jan. 1917 – June 1929 |
| 3 Private Patients | PP2-PP866 | Jan. 1901 – Mar. 1925 |
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Dept. of Health Information Management, 2000 (acc. no. 2000.08.24).
Processed by Henry Blanco and finding aid written by Stephen Novak, 2006.