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) 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
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Scope and Content: In 1983 the Dept. of Mental Health was sanctioned by the U.S. District Court for inadequately controlling reports of restraint and seclusion of patients institutionalized under the department’s jurisdiction. The Evaluation Section in its Division of Mental Health Services (called the Evaluation Section of the Division of Policy and Planning from 1987) was instructed to develop the forms, maintain the data, and publish the results of restraint and seclusion reports for public and private institutions (St 1984, c 464). A public report, omitting patient identifiers, was required. Both state mental health and mental retardation institutions were included in these reports until St 1986, c 599 removed the responsibility for mental retardation from the Dept. of Mental Health and established a new Dept. of Mental Retardation.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: From the records of the Governor’s Commission on Mental Retardation, transferred to  Archives, 1994-2008. For details consult the Massachusetts Archives series control file
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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.
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Scope and Content: The State Lunatic Hospital at Northampton was established in 1855 and opened in 1858.  It was successively renamed Northampton Lunatic Hospital in 1862, Northampton Insane Hospital in 1898, and Northampton State Hospital in 1906.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by patient
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: The Division of Family Health Services of the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health was established in 1969, and replaced successively by the Bureau of Parent, Child, and Adolescent Health ca. 1988 and the Bureau of Family and Community Health by 1992.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Tewksbury opened in 1854.  It was renamed successively the State Hospital (1900), the State Infirmary (1909), Tewksbury State Hospital and Infirmary (1939), and Tewksbury Hospital (1959)
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Scope and Content: The Psychopathic Dept. of Boston State Hospital was established in 1912.  It became Boston Psychopathic Hospital in 1920; that was renamed Massachusetts Mental Health Center in 1956.
Arrangement: Arranged by outpatient registration no
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Files for 1964-1966 lacking
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Scope and Content: Lakeville State Sanatorium opened in 1910.  It was renamed Lakeville Hospital in 1963, which closed in 1992.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no./chronologically by date of admission
Restrictions: Public health hospital/clinic client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 111, s 70. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Transferred to Archives, June 1992. Cases 8775-8859, 9000-9332, 9411-11798, admitted 1939-1954. Box 1: A-Car. Box 2: Cas-E. Box 3: F-He. Box 4: Hi-L. Box 5: M-N. Box 6: O-She. Box 7: Shi-Z
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Scope and Content: The State Reform School was founded in 1847 and opened in 1848 at Westborough for the instruction, discipline, employment, and reform of male juvenile offenders in Massachusetts.  It was renamed the Lyman School for Boys in 1884 and closed in 1972.  Beginning in 1901 inmate case files were created as a central source of information on each inmate’s personal history before, during, and after his stay at the school.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no./chronologically
Restrictions: Youth services client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 120, s 21. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Includes files for case no. 7700-17915.  For earlier admissions see: Case histories of boys, 1855-1911 ((M-Ar)629X), which includes an alphabetical name index through 1916
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Scope and Content: The Dept. of Public Health protects the health of Commonwealth residents by maintaining state health facilities, regulating private health facilities, controlling disease, and regulating food, drugs, and other consumer products.  The department is headed by the commissioner of public health, who maintains these administrative files.  Files document the functions of the department, daily activities of the commissioner, and constituent concerns.
Arrangement: In seven subseries; Arranged within each subseries by subject, partly alphabetically
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