Hi, I know that the Federal Government will not release censuses until 72 years after the census was taken in order to guard the personal and medical information which it contains, i.e. diagnoses like "lunatic", "idiot", etc.... My question is what about the records of state hospitals like Doretha Dix which dates back to the 1800s. I work in the Public Health field and have seen some older "social evaluations" of some patients. These Social Evaluations go into great detail, i.e. giving names of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc... giving social economical information and telling about the environment in which they lived [a pot of gold for genealogist]. Now I know that these mental health records are under a protected class of records due to their sensitive nature, but what I would like to know is will they ever age out as the census records does and then become available for research??? I have been told that one of my early relatives was admitted to Doretha Dix Hospital back in the middle 1800s, and if I could at least get hold of copies of the social evaluations, then maybe some of my unanswered questions could be answered. Also, I am sure that they would have information on those inmates who died on the Hill back in the 1800s as well. Who knows, maybe it will help me understand why I am a Genealogy Nut! Think about, help if you can! Sam West Lumberton, Robeson Co NC