Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in Massachusetts from 1854 to 1872. The State Primary School, opened there in 1866 and continuing after the almshouse’s closing in 1872 until 1895, provided lodging, instruction, and employment for dependent and neglected children under age sixteen without settlement in Massachusetts and some juvenile offenders. Legislation had authorized transfer of inmates from one almshouse to another by the Board of Alien Commissioners (St 1853, c 352, s 3; St 1859, c 255) and the Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240, s 4); and by the latter board and its successor from 1879, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity–through its Dept. of Indoor Poor–from the almshouses to the State Primary School (St 1866, c 209, ss 4-5; St 1872, c 45; St 1879, c 291).  Series documents these transfers, from the State Almshouse at Tewksbury and to a lesser degree from the State Almshouse at Bridgewater to the State Almshouse at Monson (to 1872) and to the State Primary School (from 1866)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Files for 1854-1855, 1863-1871, 1878-1881, 1883 only
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