Individual-level patient hospital records add a new dimension to conventional historical analysis of disease patterns based on mortality records. In this paper we examine patient journals from the Blegdam Hospital in Copenhagen and discuss how they contribute to our understanding of morbidity and mortality at the turn of the 20th century. These records are fully preserved since the hospital's opening in 1879 and include information on the dates of admission and discharge, name, sex and age of the patient, diagnoses, and a journal of medical procedures and patient follow-up during their hospital stay until discharge or death. Such records provide an additional angle to studying causes of death, where the period leading up to death including symptoms and treatment can be explored. The records are kept at the Copenhagen City Archives, have now been digitized from 1879 through 1910, and are currently being transcribed as part of the PID-scapes (2025–2028) and Paper Trails projects (2026–2027). The collection has, to our knowledge, not been the subject of academic research since it was deposited in the archive. In this paper we demonstrate their potential, explore the sources in detail, inventory their content and quality, and describe their historical context.
This article explores the use of 19th-century patient registers for historical research, focusing on a case study of several hospitals in the Netherlands. These patient registers offer a unique combination of extensive personal data (e.g., name, age, sex, occupation, marital status, religion) and medical and clinical information (e.g., diagnosis, length of hospitalization, and treatment outcomes). Although these sources hold immense potential, they remain significantly underexplored. This article situates these registers within their historical context and evaluates their availability, structure, reliability, strengths and limitations. Building on experience with constructing and utilizing patient register databases for hospitals in Amsterdam, Groningen and Middelburg, the article explores both the challenges and opportunities involved in digitizing and analyzing data from patient registers. This article shows how these records can be used to broaden our understanding of institutional healthcare, patient demographics, health inequalities, disease patterns, and life courses. By doing so, it aims to demonstrate the value of these underexplored sources for advancing the study of the history of health, medicine and patient care.
This article explores the integration and research value of the death register from the Carolina State Hospital in Cluj (hu: Kolozsvár, de: Klausenburg), covering the years 1888 to 1895. Preserved at the Cluj County Branch of the National Archives of Romania, in the History of Medicine Collection, this source has been included in the Transylvanian Health Database (TrHD), and contains data on over 1,300 deceased patients, offering insights into individuals' characteristics (such as names, sex, age at death, denomination, marital status, place of birth, date of death, causes of death, and institutional practices). Most patients were young, unmarried males from various parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The denominational structure of the deceased, dominated by Calvinist (Reformed), Roman Catholic, and Greek Catholic denominations, mirrors the broader ethnic composition of Cluj at the time. Common causes of death included infectious diseases and chronic illnesses, while rare conditions were also recorded with notable medical precision in the source. To enable cross-temporal and cross-linguistic comparisons, these causes of death were standardized and coded using the historical ICD10h system. Building on this foundation, the source and the resulting database are expected to support, in both the near and distant future, broader analyses of medicalization, morbidity, mortality inequality, and the evolution of healthcare in this semi-peripheral region of historical Europe. Looking ahead, future research aims to expand the data by integrating admission records and similar registers from other medical institutions in Transylvania and Romania, thereby contributing to international historical demography and the social history of medicine.
This article examines recurrent mobility across individual life courses and departure sequences within families of origin in the municipality of Fafe, northern Portugal, between 1830 and 1920. Linking parish reconstitutions, external passports, internal travel permits, departure lists, and Brazilian arrival records identified 7,142 individuals and 9,993 movements. The analysis measures recurrent mobility, age at first departure, intervals between successive movements, transitions between internal and external mobility, and the timing of departures among people linked to the same parental couple. Recurrent mobility involved 23.5% of individuals and was strongly male-dominated. Among men with complete information, writing ability and lower-skilled non-manual occupations were positively associated with repeated movement. Intervals reveal both closely concentrated departures and trajectories resumed after many years. Combined trajectories included transitions in both directions between internal and external mobility, while family sequences unfolded across different times and geographical scales. The findings show that mobility was not adequately represented by a single departure: it accumulated unevenly across individual life courses and family-linked sequences, although the sources do not establish the mechanisms that sustained each movement.
This paper examines both the use and untapped potential of historical sources on mortality and morbidity in Finland. From the late 1600s, Lutheran priests recorded individual deaths, while causes of death were added on the historical sources from the mid-1700s. The Tabulation office compiled annual aggregate statistics on deaths by age, sex and cause of death based on priests' reports from the mid-1700s until 1900s. These records constitute one of the world's earliest national statistics. After the introduction of mandatory medical death examinations in 1936, causes of death were classified using national codes and later the International Classification of Diseases. In addition to mortality, various sources describe morbidity and epidemics. Annual reports from physicians and hospitals include patient statistics, individual observations, and epidemic analyses. Additionally, forensic materials, such as autopsy reports, detail unnatural deaths. Most burial records before the mid-1900s have been transcribed into accessible databases such as HisKi and Katiha. However, the multilingual nature and evolving understanding and terminology in causes of death pose classification challenges. To address this issue, this study discusses on the first attempt to apply the Historical International Classification of Diseases (ICD10h) to Finnish- and Swedish-language records, facilitating comparisons of causes of death before the 1900s. Although Finnish mortality sources have been used to some extent in historical and population studies, they remain an underutilized resource for comparative research. This article aims to raise awareness of these rich sources, exploring their origins, structure, and content, advocating for their broader application in historical, demographic, and epidemiological studies.
