Our ancestors, like all of us, had their strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. They may have been pillars of the community, lived on the fringes of society, or have been healthy their entire lives or battled diseases. Orphanages, asylums, maternity homes, sanitariums, penitentiaries, and more institutions were some of the first and last places our ancestors may have spent their lives. In this lecture, we will cover the different types of records these institutions created, what they can tell us about our ancestors, and where we may be able to find them.