Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 to 1872.  The State Primary School, opened at the almshouse in 1866 and continuing after its closing until 1895, provided lodging, instruction, and employment for dependent and neglected children under age sixteen without settlement in the Commonwealth and some juvenile offenders.  Sick inmates at the institutions were treated at their hospital.  Series was created to administer and record admission and discharge from the facility.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no./chronologically by admission date
Notes: Vols. 1-2 formerly separate series as almshouse hospital register
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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.)  In the early 1970s the department initiated a project to compile comprehensive information on mental health, mental retardation, and other human services available to residents of the thirty-nine mental health catchment areas of the state.  The project, originally planned by the Human Services Resources Information Register Task Force, was coordinated by a resource survey office in the central office of the department and by the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, which worked with representatives of catchment areas to collect, edit, and verify information, and finally to compile area directories distributed by area offices.  (Originally an online information and referral system was also planned.)  Human services resource directory project files were created by staff of the Dept. of Mental Health central office in the course of planning, coordinating, and carrying out this project.
Arrangement: Arranged by region, thereunder by area, and then by facility
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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.)  In the early 1970s the department initiated a project to compile comprehensive information on mental health, mental retardation, and other human services available to residents of the thirty-nine mental health catchment areas of the state.  The project, originally planned by the Human Services Resource Information Register Task Force, was coordinated by a resource survey office in  the central office of the department and by the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, which worked with representatives of catchment areas to collect, edit, and verify information, and finally to compile area directories distributed by area offices.  (Originally an online information and referral system was also planned.)  Human services resource directory survey forms were sent to and collected from human service agencies throughout the state and were used as a basis for preparing area directories.
Arrangement: Arranged by region, thereunder by area
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Scope and Content: Transfer of immigration authority from the states to the federal government occurred with the federal Acts of 1891, c 551. In Massachusetts, continuing state medical care of alien passengers was administered first by the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898), and then by its successor, the State Board of Charity (from1898). A federal alien immigration act of Feb. 20, 1907 led to a July 1908 contract between the immigration office in the U.S. Treasury Dept. and the State Board of Charity, renewed July 1909, replacing a similar contract of Mar. 1894. It provided federal reimbursement for care at state hospitals or other suitable institutions until deportation, or until one year after entry into the United States–three years for those ordered deported whose need for public support predated their arrival. A contract of Aug. 1910 repealed previous terms, and indicated that the federal government would not pay alien hospital charges, except in cases where the government was paying for deportation with the consent of the alien concerned. Formal contracts with Massachusetts were discontinued as of Jan. 1, 1911. Hereafter Massachusetts, like other states, was to receive any payments at approved rates under federal immigration regulations.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898) had responsibility to monitor immigration, including examining passengers, procuring passenger lists, collecting bonds or head money, returning passengers, and, through its Dept. of Outdoor Poor, caring for alien passengers requiring medical assistance who were not committed to state institutions. Transfer of immigration authority from the states to the federal government occurred with the federal Acts of 1891, c 551. A Feb. 1892 contract with the State Board of Lunacy and Charity allowed federal reimbursement for state care of immigrants for their first year of residence and for state deportation of such immigrants, and remained in effect until a new contract was established in Mar. 1894.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Formerly called: Voucher register
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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
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Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 to 1872.  The State Primary School, opened at the almshouse in 1866 and continuing after its closing until 1895, provided lodging, instruction, and employment for dependent and neglected children under age sixteen without settlement in the Commonwealth and some juvenile offenders.  Series consisting of incoming correspondence, generally addressed to the institutions’ superintendent, was maintained to administer them.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Formerly known as: General correspondence. Files for 1854-1871, 1878-1883, 1889-1890, 1892-1894 only
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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: 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 by indenture number
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. For conditions of access consult repository 
Notes: Spine title: Indenture book
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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
Notes: Spine title: Indentures
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