Scope and Content: Chronically insane male paupers were transferred from Massachusetts almshouses and lunatic hospitals in 1887 to an asylum opened at the State Workhouse in Bridgewater, renamed shortly thereafter the State Farm.  Mentally infirm inmates from the State Prison were also admitted to the asylum beginning in 1890, and constituted the only admissions from 1894. The State Asylum for Insane Criminals was then officially established at the State Farm in 1895, and was renamed Bridgewater State Hospital in 1909. In 1919 the State Farm, including the State Hospital, was transferred from the State Board of Charity to the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons (later Dept. of Correction), although as of 1923 the Dept. of Mental Diseases (later Dept. of Mental Health) retained the power to commit non-criminal insane to the institution. The State Farm was reorganized in 1955 as Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. The State Hospital remained as a unit within the larger entity until 1987, when it was separated with its own superintendent.
Arrangement: Arranged numerically/chronologically by admission
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 36. Personal medical information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c) and c 66A. For conditions of access consult repository
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