A BOGO Commitment Offer

Note: For the complete list of posts, go HERE.

My grandparents’ story reconvenes back in the records room at the New York Supreme Court, because I actually hold two accordion commitment folders in my hand, one for Frank and another for Elizabeth.

At this point, I should admit in this totally truthful narrative that I stretched the dramatic arc a bit in chapter seven. Yes, I discovered in the 1940 Census that Frank was an inmate at the Rockland Asylum.

But so was Elizabeth.

I initially thought this must be some sort of mistake. What are the odds? TWO unknown and mysterious grandparents who BOTH wind up in the Asylum? Did Rockland have some sort of BOGO offer for recent Italian immigrants during the 1930s?

And so when I requested the 1932 records for the commitment proceeding for Frank, I also asked for Elizabeth. I discovered there were also records for a commitment proceeding for Elizabeth. From 1938. Record number 13229/1938.

After reviewing Frank’s commitment papers, I pause again to wonder what on earth happened between 1932 and 1938 to send Elizabeth down the same path as her husband. I wonder who committed her. I wonder what went wrong. I wonder how my father survived all of this.

I reach into the accordion folder, and strangely there is an envelope inside this time.

Elizabeth’s name is on the left in very nice handwriting.

And then in the upper right, the word “Sealed.”

Crap.

I ponder sliding my fingernail under the envelope flap to open this envelope, which obviously hasn’t been opened in over 80 years. 

But my cautious nature and respect for the law -- and more truthfully, the possibility of CATV cameras -- pull me up short. That and the fact that I’ve spent the past 20 years working in various aspects of the records management space, so that plain ignorance is likely not an excuse.

OK. Now what?