Scope and Content: The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, established in 1877, opened in 1878 as Danvers Lunatic Hospital.  It was renamed Danvers Insane Hospital in 1898 and Danvers State Hospital in 1909. It was closed in 1992.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Female patients  (2) Male patients; Arranged chronologically
Notes: Includes vols. 5, 7-8; female: 9-25; male: 9-26
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Scope and Content: Westborough Insane Hospital was established in 1884 and opened in 1886.  It was renamed Westborough State Hospital in 1909.
Arrangement: Arranged numerically by inpatient registration no. (chronologically assigned)
Notes: Volumes lettered A-I; include registration no. 1-2250
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Scope and Content: The Dept. of Mental Health exercised responsibility for mentally retarded persons in Massachusetts (specifically from 1966 through its Division of Mental Retardation) until 1986, when a separate Dept. of Mental Retardation was established.
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Scope and Content: The Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240) oversaw the state’s immigration and pauper relief functions, as well as the state’s charitable and correctional institutions. These included institutions for the mentally ill and retarded of Massachusetts, which were responsibility of the Board’s successors, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (St 1879, c 291), and State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101). They were then the sole responsibility successively of the State Board of Insanity (St 1898, c 433), Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), and Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486)
Arrangement: Arranged by institution, thereunder by inpatient registration no.
Restrictions: 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. For conditions of access consult repository
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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 by registration no./chronologically by admission date
Restrictions: Public health hospital/clinic client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 111, s 70. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Also known as: Admission files. Files for 1895-1907 incomplete; files for 1908-1912 lacking; supplementary file for 1915-1919
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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.  The institutions managed an annual budget to sustain operations.  Attendant financial records include invoice/voucher registers to record expenses incurred for goods, services, and salaries.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Spine title varies: Daybook; Blotter; Invoice; Invoice book
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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 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 administer forwarding of clothing supplier bills to the Dept. of Indoor Poor, State Board of Lunacy and Charity, for clothes furnished to boarded inmates.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date of bill
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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. Redacted photocopies available from reference staff. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: The Board of State Charities and its successors from 1863 onward oversaw the Massachusetts state immigration and pauper relief functions, as well as the state’s charitable and correctional institutions. In 1866 the board appointed a visiting agent, under its secretary, to track and visit state wards sent out to indenture. The Visiting Agency was made a separate department within the board  in 1869 to investigate applicants wanting to adopt or indenture children, approve placements, conduct visits of children that were adopted, indentured, or otherwise placed out, and provide ongoing follow-up.
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Scope and Content: The State Reform School for Girls was established in 1855 and opened in 1856 at Lancaster as the State Industrial School for Girls.  From 1911 until its closing in 1972 it was known as the Industrial School for Girls.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Deposited in the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, May 4, 1976.  Transferred to Archives, Novolumes 11, 1982
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