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Brief Descriptions of Connecticut State Agencies

Connecticut Valley Hospital

Agency Web page | Statutory Authority |Agency History |
Published histories/articles | State Library Collections | List of Commissioners

Agency Web page

Statutory Authority :
CGS sec. 17-207.

Agency History :

1866, legislation enacted establishing a hospital for the insane in Connecticut.

1867, June 20, cornerstone laid in Middletown for the General Hospital for Insane of the State of Connecticut.

1874, name changed to Connecticut Hospital for the Insane.

By 1879, referred to as Connecticut State Hospital.

1953, October 1, administratively transferred to the new Dept. of Mental Health

1961, October, name changed to Connecticut Valley Hospital per P.A. 340.

1995, accepted patients from Fairfield Hills Hospital upon its closure.

1996, accepted patients from Norwich Hospital upon its closure.

Published Histories/Articles :
The Tercentenary and Connecticut State Hospital.  Middletown, Conn. : Connecticut State Hospital, [1950]. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc In713t]

Carini, Esta et al. The Mentally Ill in Connecticut: Changing Patterns of Care and the Evolution of Psychiatric Nursing, 1636-1972. Hartford : Dept. of Mental Health, 1974. pp. 12-134. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc M68 meiL]

To the Memory of Dr. Joseph W. Alsop : Also to the Trustees and Local Trustees, of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, 1868.  This reprint of one quarter of a century is presented by the first trustee of Hartford County.  Hartford, CT:  Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Co, 1895. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc In713a]

Burr, Rollin H. “A Statistical Study of Patients Admitted at the Connecticut Hospital for Insane from the Years 1868 to 1901.” Publications of the American Statistical Association, vol. 8, no. 62, June 1903, pp. 305-343. [Available at the State Library in JSTOR, a subscription database]

Shew, Abram Marvin Shew, M.D.  "History and Description of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane."  First Report of the Board of Trustees of the General State Hospital for the Insane, of the State of Connecticut, Presented to the General Assembly, at its Session in May, 1867.  New Haven : printed by Thomas J. Stafford, 1867. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc In713]

Hartford Courant “From numbers to names, one by one…”, May 26, 2005, p. B3.

Hartford Courant “Giving names to people nobody wanted to know”, May 29, 2005. p. H1.

Agency Documents in the State Library Collections :

Check the State Library catalog, CONSULS, under these author headings for publications by the agency available in the State Library :

Connecticut Hospital for the Insane.

Connecticut State Hospital.

Connecticut Valley Hospital.

Annual Reports are located in :

[CSL Call Number ConnDoc In713]

Digest of Administrative Reports to the Governor [CSL Call Number ConnDoc F40 d]

State Archives Record Group : RG 021

List of Superintendents :
Superintendents 1933-1969 in [CSL Call Number ConnDoc M68 meil]

 

Name

Years of Service

Abrahm Shew, M.D.

1867-1886

James Olmstead, M.D.

1886-1897

Henry Noble, M.D. (Acting)

1897-1898

Charles Page, M.D.

1898-1901

Henry Noble, M.D.

1901-1915

Clarence Haviland, M.D.

1915-1922

Roy L. Leak, M.D.

1922-1944

Edgar C. Yerbury, M.D.

1944-1959

Harry S. Whiting, M.D.

1959-1964

Sidney Kligerman, M.D. (Acting)

1964

John F. Lowney, Jr., M.D.

1964-1966

Mehadin K. Arafeh, M.D.

1967-1981

Vincenzo Cocilovo

1981-1987

Carl A. Cappello

1987-1991

Judith Normandin

1992-1995

Garrell S. Mullaney (CEO)

1996-2005

Luis Perez

2006-Present

Prepared by the Government Information and Reference Services Unit, page revised 7/2008.