Scope and Content: The State Primary School, opened at the State Almshouse at Monson 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 the Commonwealth and some juvenile offenders.  Inmates were placed on trial (often subsequently indentured) with families; per St 1880, c 208, s 1, inmates too young or otherwise handicapped to earn their support were placed on board with families, the state paying attendant costs.  Series was created to monitor program and costs.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Bridgewater, Mass., was the site successively of a State Almshouse (1854-1872) for so-called willing and needlessly dependent paupers, and the State Workhouse (1866-1887), for paupers convicted of misdemeanors as well as paupers generally (from 1872), and incorrigible juveniles (1869-1948). The State Workhouse was renamed the State Farm (1887-1955), which also included a State Farm Hospital for the medical needs of all inmates, as well as locals and poor admitted solely for medical treatment. The change in name was in deference to the admission of insane male paupers (1886), although it was  followed by the admission of aged and physically or mentally infirm inmates of the State Prison (1890). Insane admissions were then limited for a time to criminals (1894), forming a division called the State Asylum for Insane Criminals (1895), which was renamed Bridgewater State Hospital (1909). Units at Bridgewater were later added for female prisoners (1909-1930), so-called defective delinquents (males from 1922, females 1926-1954)–mentally impaired inmates requiring segregation from standard inmate or institutionalized populations–and for drug and alcohol addicts (from 1922, females to 1930 only), eventually mostly voluntary admissions. All Bridgewater State Farm facilities and divisions (including prison, almshouse, insane, and medical hospital functions) were administered by a common superintendent. The running of the State Farm, including industries and extensive agricultural operations, relied on work performed by all capable inmates.
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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: In six subseries : Arranged roughly chronologically,  within each subseries alphabetically by inmate name (except see below, subseries 6)
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. For conditions of access consult repository 
Notes: Transferred to Archives, 2004-2005 (2005/04 and 2005/41).  A pre-existing incomplete file, 1915-1927, was returned to agency June 1990
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Scope and Content: Middlesex County was incorporated on May 10, 1643 (Mass Recs 2:38), continuing under successive governments of Massachusetts, most recently the Commonwealth (1780), as outlined in MGLA c 34.  Administrative powers and duties previously exercised at various times under the laws of the Commonwealth by county treasurers and clerks of the county courts of general sessions of the peace, county courts of common pleas, and circuit courts of common pleas, were assigned to commissioners in Middlesex and other counties upon their establishment per St 1827, c 77 (1828).  They maintained county financial information, such as accounts of receipts (including county taxes) and expenditures, in conjunction with the county treasurer, who had previously kept county financial information (see:  Massachusetts. Treasury Office. County treasurer accounts, 1798-1836 ((M-Ar)2399X)). The commissioners were responsible for county assets and property including highways, reservoirs and buildings (including jails), as well as county debt. The government of Middlesex County was abolished as of the effective date of St 1997, c 48 (approved July 11, 1997).
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Scope and Content: The Boston Elevated Railway Company was established in 1894 and replaced successively by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in 1947 and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1964.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes:  Monthly through Oct. 1932; thereafter frequency varies.  Ceased with v. 32, no. 1. Holdings (v. [1]-18) incomplete (see finding aid) Vol. 1-4? issued by company’s public trustees; from v. 26, no. 3 (Sept. 1947) issued by the Metropolitan Transit Authority
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Archives occasionally accessions nonpublic records consisting of documents or graphics relating to Massachusetts persons, places, or events.
Notes: Four ms./printed documents relating to the Boston fur trade, 1878-1893. Presented by Peter Halferty, Calcium, N.Y.; received through Gov. Deval Patrick, July 17, 2013
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts has administered water works and sewage disposal for the Boston metropolitan area successively through the Board of Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners (Metropolitan Sewerage Commission) (1889-1901) and the Metropolitan Water Board (1895-1901); the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919); and the Water and Sewerage Divisions of the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-1985).  Since 1985, the sewerage works functions have been assigned to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the water works functions have been shared by the MWRA (distribution) and the Metropolitan District Commission (to 2003) and the Dept.  of Conservation and Recreation (since 2003) (water supply reservoirs and their watershed management).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission
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Scope and Content: The Industrial School for Boys at Shirley provided instruction and reformatory treatment for delinquent boys in Massachusetts aged fifteen or older, from 1909 to 1972.  Cash account book shows funds received for and disbursed to school inmates.  Information includes date, inmate name, amounts of receipt and disbursement.  There are also periodic totals of money spent for newspapers and candy.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Youth services client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 120, s 21. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: The Committee on Rules is generally in charge of procedural matters for the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts General Court, and considers all matters referred to it.  In 1906 the committee was responsible for investigating and adjudicating charges affecting the integrity of House members, after bribery charges were made in connection with votes on an amendment to the “Bucket Shop Bill” relating to gambling places.  Series, which documents the committee’s investigation, contains draft reports, statements, motions, letters, memorandums, notes, and newsclippings.
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Scope and Content: The Division of Legal Medicine was established in 1956 to provide psychiatric services to courts and correctional institutions and to ensure that persons who came into contact with the criminal justice system received needed mental health care.  St 1967, c 620 established special procedures whereby persons confined at Bridgewater State Hospital pursuant to then MGLA c 123, ss 51, 103-105 (cf. since 1970, ss 5-6, 18), could petition for hearings relative to their confinement.  Bridgewater judicial transfer files were created by the Division of Legal Medicine in the course of carrying out its responsibility for coordinating the transfer of those who, as a result of a judicial hearing, were to be transferred from Bridgewater, a maximum security facility, to other state hospitals for the mentally ill.
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
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