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.  To fulfill this responsibility the division held clinics for incarcerated adults and children in correction and juvenile facilities as well as a clinic for paroled children and adults.  Connvict treatment case files were created to provide a record of the treatment and psychiatric evaluation of these persons.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. 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: State oversight of treatment for drug abuse in Massachusetts was successively the responsibility of the Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Board, established 1963 in the Dept. of Public Health, and of the Division of Drug Rehabilitation, established 1969 in the department of the attorney general, transferred to the Dept. of Mental Health effective 1971, and then to the Dept. of Public Health, effective 1982.  In 1986 the division was merged with that department’s Division of Alcoholism to form (as of 1989) the Division of Substance Abuse Services.
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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.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Contents: 1851-1891 1 volume  1891-1914 1 volume  1892-1944, 1944-1951, 1952-1960, 1961-1962 (typescript in file folders)
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Scope and Content: When the Massachusetts General Hospital was incorporated in 1811 to care for sick and mentally ill persons, a board of visitors of state officials was mandated to inspect the hospital periodically and to select four of its twelve trustees.  Board correspondence consists of letters addressed or forwarded to several governors (i.e. chairs of the board), relating to election of hospital corporation officers and trustees.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Agency history record (CStRLIN)MASVAH0321-A describes the history and functions of the Board of Visitors of the Massachusetts General Hospital
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Scope and Content: The Subdivision of Research and Statistics was established in the Division of Aid and Relief (Dept. of Public Welfare) in 1937.  By 1939 it was renamed Bureau of Research and Statistics and by 1940 was an independent unit within the department.  It was renamed successively: Division of Research and Planning (1970), Division of Statistics and Analysis (1971), Office of Research and Planning (mid-1970s), Office of Research and Evaluation (1979), and Office of Research, Evaluation, and Planning (1983)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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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 out on trial (often subsequently indentured) with families (originally by school inspectors–St 1866, c 209, s 7; then by school trustees–St 1880, c 208, s 1) and periodically monitored by the visiting agent of the Board of State Charities (St 1869, c 453, s 2; St 1870, c 359, s 2–in which called State Visiting Agency) and from 1879 by the Division of Visiting, Dept. of Indoor Poor, State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (State Board of Lunacy and Charity from 1886).  These offices also visited and approved homes before placement (St 1869, c 453, s 3; St 1870, c 359, s 4). Series was created to administer such approval.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Vols. 2-4 formerly part of: Outgoing correspondence ((M-Ar)882X) Contents: Apr. 1882-Oct. 1883; Novolumes 1883-Jan. 1887; Feb. 1887-May 1891; May 1891-Apr. 1895
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Scope and Content: State oversight of treatment for drug abuse in Massachusetts was successively the responsibility of the Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Board, established 1963 in the Dept. of Public Health, and of the Division of Drug Rehabilitation, established 1969 in the department of the attorney general, transferred to the Dept. of Mental Health effective 1971, and then to the Dept. of Public Health, effective 1982.  In 1986 the division was merged with that department’s Division of Alcoholism to form (as of 1989) the Division of Substance Abuse Services.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject
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Scope and Content: Since 1971 the Executive Office of Human Services (Executive Office of Health and Human Services since 1992) has been responsible through its constitutent agencies for the delivery of a wide range of services to persons with financial, health, social, protective, rehabilitation, and correctional needs. Its role is one of management and fiscal oversight, coordination of interagency planning and program development, and policy analysis.  Series was created by the executive office’s criminal justice policy unit to oversee pertinent departments and establish policy.
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Scope and Content: Since 1971 the Executive Office of Human Services (Executive Office of Health and Human Services since 1992) has been responsible through its constitutent agencies for the delivery of a wide range of services to persons with financial, health, social, protective, rehabilitation, and correctional needs. Its role is one of management and fiscal oversight, coordination of interagency planning and program development, and policy analysis.  Series was created by the executive office’s criminal justice policy unit to inform and establish policy in the area of criminal justice.
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)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Cover title: Summary
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