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Scope and Content: Cushing Hospital in Framingham, Mass., intended for the care and custody of elderly persons, was purchased by the Commonwealth from the federal government in 1955, opened in 1957 under the Dept. of Mental Health, transferred to the Dept. of Public Health in 1984, and closed in 1991.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Transferred to Archives by Tewksbury Hospital, Tewksbury, Mass., Mar. 1999
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Scope and Content: The Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children conducted at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind from 1848 was incorporated by Massachusetts as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in 1850. It was renamed Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1883 and Walter E. Fernald State School in 1925.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject
Notes: Scheduled as: Administrative subject files
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts Resolves 1846, c 117 appointed Commissioners on Idiocy to inquire on: the condition of idiots in the commonwealth and if anything can be done for them. The commission’s report, written by Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, led to the establishment by Resolves 1848, c 65 of the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, located at the Perkins Institution. The school was incorporated as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth (St 1850, c 150), located near Perkins in South Boston, with Howe serving as president until his death in 1876. It was renamed the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded by St 1883, c 239, reflecting the establishment of a separate asylum department for those beyond school age or not capable of being helped by the school’s instruction. Funds for the construction of a new facility in Waltham were provided by Resolves 1888, c 82, and occupation of the new site began in 1890, with the South Boston facility closing in 1892. St 1925, c 293 renamed the institution the Walter E. Fernald State School, in honor of the superintendent of the school, 1887-1924. A 2003 gubernatorial initiative to close the Fernald School (known as the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center since 1993) by 2007 was contested during the subsequent decade, until the institution was shut down permanently in Nov. 2014.
Restrictions: Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Scheduled as: Correspondence. Outgoing correspondence for 1894-1895 scheduled as: Outgoing correspondence
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Scope and Content: Pondville Hospital was operated by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health from 1927 to 1981 as a facility to conduct cancer research and to treat cancer patients. The superintendent’s office maintained files on the institutional acquisition of land in Norfolk and Walpole, including that for the predecessor facility on that site, Norfolk State Hospital (for the treatment of alcoholism).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives, Feb. 1982
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Scope and Content: The Reformatory Prison for Women was opened in Sherborn in 1877. It was renamed the Reformatory for Women by St 1911, c 181, and because of a redrawn boundary line its fuller designation was changed from the Reformatory for Women at Sherborn to the Reformatory for Women at Framingham by St 1932, c 180, s 24. Under St 1955, c 770 it received its current name, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Pondville Hospital was operated by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health from 1927 to 1981 as a facility to conduct cancer research and to treat cancer patients. The superintendent’s office maintained files relating to the groundbreaking (1969) and opening (1972) ceremonies for a new hospital facility.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives, Feb. 1982
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Scope and Content: The Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children conducted at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind from 1848 was incorporated by Massachusetts as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in 1850. It was renamed Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1883 and Walter E. Fernald State School in 1925.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Related Catalog Records:
Scope and Content: Massachusetts Resolves 1846, c 117 appointed Commissioners on Idiocy to inquire on: the condition of idiots in the commonwealth and if anything can be done for them. The commission’s report, written by Samuel G. Howe of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, led to the establishment by Resolves 1848, c 65 of the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, located at the Perkins Institution. The school was incorporated as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth (St 1850, c 150), located near Perkins in South Boston, with Howe serving as president until his death in 1876. It was renamed the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded by St 1883, c 239, reflecting the establishment of a separate asylum department for those beyond school age or not capable of being helped by the school’s instruction. Funds for the construction of a new facility in Waltham were provided by Resolves 1888, c 82, and occupation of the new site began in 1890, with the South Boston facility closing in 1892. St 1925, c 293 renamed the institution the Walter E. Fernald State School, in honor of the superintendent of the school, 1887-1924. A 2003 gubernatorial initiative to close the Fernald School (known as the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center since 1993) by 2007 was still in litigation as of 2013.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Boxes 2-4, 6-7: reports kept in scrapbooks. Series formerly designated (when held in agency) as: ((M-Ar)N149X)
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Scope and Content: Pursuant to MGLA c 19, the Dept. of Mental Health fulfills its responsibilities toward mentally ill persons in Massachusetts through a comprehensive program of services and facilities. (It exercised a similar function for the mentally retarded until 1986, when a separate Dept. of Mental Retardation was established.) A supervisor of occupational therapy was first appointed in 1952 to survey, examine, and suggest methods for improving occupational therapy programs at mental health and retardation facilities controlled by the department. Administrative files were created in the course of carrying out these responsibilities.
Restrictions: Personnel/evaluative information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c). For conditions of access consult repository
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