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 this connection the department was responsible for monitoring the use of restraint and seclusion at facilities under its jurisdiction per MGLA c 123, s 21 (St 1970, c 888, s 4) and regulations.  Monthly institutional restraint and seclusion reports were completed by individual facilities and returned to the central departmental office where they were reviewed and collated.  (They were received at the departmental deputy commissioner’s office as well as by the department’s Quality of Care Review Team.)
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by institution
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted bt 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
Notes: Box 1: A-Ma. Box 2: Mc-We. Box 3: Wo-Wr
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Scope and Content: The State Board of Charity was established in Massachusetts per St 1898 c 433 from the Board of Lunacy and Charity, with a Division of State Adult Poor (with Indoor and Outdoor units) responsible for the welfare of adult poor without legal settlement. The division oversaw, funded, and audited programs, run locally, for sick state poor, temporary aid, dangerous diseases, removals, wife settlement, burials, and relief to mothers with dependent children (St 1913, c 763). The State Board of Charity was replaced by the Dept. of Public Welfare in 1919. The Settlements Dept. of its Division of Aid and Relief, using field agents/visitors, continued to investigate legal settlement status and supervised aid administered by the local authorities. Audits were conducted on city and town reimbursement requests. The division also had an Institutional Dept., responsible for admission and dismissal of inmates from the State Infirmary and the pauper department of the State Farm.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Personal information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s7, d 26(c), c 66A. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Some years incomplete.  Files for 1919-21, 1927-28 missing. Records from 1930 consist only of  lists of children, as above
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Scope and Content: Westfield State Sanatorium, renamed Western Massachusetts Hospital in 1962, provided care and treatment for tuberculosis patients from its opening in 1910 until 1974, for cancer patients from 1937 to 1924, and for patients with other chronic diseases from 1959.  Series contains carbon copies of monthly statistical reports sent by the superintendent to the director of the Division of Sanatoria and Tuberculosis Control in the Dept. of Public Health.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Public health hospital/clinic client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 111, s 70. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: The Division of State Adult Poor was established in Massachusetts under the State Board of Lunacy and Charity in 1898 (shortly thereafter continued under the State Board of Charity).  It was succeeded by the Division of Aid and Relief in the Dept. of Public Welfare in 1919.  That division was replaced by the Division of Public Assistance in 1953, which continued until departmental reorganization in 1971.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Cities and towns  (2) Boston. Arranged chronologically by year, thereunder alphabetically by municipality, and then chronologically by date of notice
Restrictions: Personal information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s7, d 26(c), c 66A. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Cover title: Transfer
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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. St 1865, c 162 required municipalities to provide care for those state paupers too sick to be moved to a state almshouse. In such cases, the local overseers of the poor were required to send an immediate notice to the Board of State Charities, in order to receive approval for state reimbursement from the board’s agent for the sick state poor. The overseers were to provide patient location information so that the board, through the agent, could investigate the case if necessary, a role alluded to in St 1869, c 12.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Cushing Hospital in Framingham, Mass., intended for the care and custody of elderly persons, was purchased by the Commonwealth from the federal government in 1955, opened in 1957 under the Dept. of Mental Health, transferred to the Dept. of Public Health in 1984, and closed in 1991.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. Public health hospital client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 111, c 70. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Transferred to Archives by Tewksbury Hospital, Tewksbury, Mass., Mar. 1999
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Scope and Content: Chronically insane male paupers were transferred from Massachusetts almshouses and lunatic hospitals in 1887 to an asylum opened at the State Workhouse in Bridgewater, renamed shortly thereafter the State Farm. Mentally infirm inmates from the State Prison were also admitted to the asylum beginning in 1890, and constituted the only admissions from 1894. The State Asylum for Insane Criminals was then officially established at the State Farm in 1895, and was renamed Bridgewater State Hospital in 1909. In 1919 the State Farm, including the State Hospital, was transferred from the State Board of Charity to the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons (later Dept. of Correction), although as of 1923 the Dept. of Mental Diseases (later Dept. of Mental Health) retained the power to commit non-criminal insane to the institution. The State Farm was reorganized in 1955 as Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. The State Hospital remained as a unit within the larger entity until 1987, when it was separated with its own superintendent.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients was established in 1895 and opened at Rutland in 1898.  It was successively renamed the Massachusetts State Sanatorium in 1900, Rutland State Sanatorium in 1910, Rutland Hospital in 1963, and after the move to a new facility, Rutland Heights Hospital in 1965.
Arrangement: Arranged by operation code no., thereunder chronologically
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 in Aug. 1982
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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 alphabetically by inmate
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Scope and Content: The Temporary Industrial Camp for Prisoners, receiving inmates from other Massachusetts correctional facilities, was opened in 1904 at Rutland.  When a hospital for tubercular prison inmates, also from throughout the state, was completed at the site in 1907, the combined institutions became the Prison Camp and Hospital.  It was closed in 1934 because of construction of the Quabbin Reservoir; inmates were transferred to the State Prison Colony at Norfolk.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Orders for inmates removed to and from hospital (2) Orders for inmates removed to and from camp; Arranged within each subseries by inmate case no
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. Subseries (1) restricted: personal medical information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c) and c 66A. For conditions of access consult repository 
Notes: Transferred to Archives from MCI Norfolk, Mar. 1983
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