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: Pondville Hospital was operated by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health from 1927 to 1981 as a facility to conduct cancer research and to treat cancer patients.  The superintendent’s office maintained files relating to the groundbreaking (1969) and opening (1972) ceremonies for a new hospital facility.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives, Feb. 1982
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Scope and Content: The Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children conducted at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind from 1848 was incorporated by Massachusetts as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in 1850.  It was renamed Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1883 and Walter E. Fernald State School in 1925.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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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 G. 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 still in litigation as of 2013.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Boxes 2-4, 6-7: reports kept in scrapbooks. Series formerly designated (when held in agency) as: ((M-Ar)N149X)
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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.)  A supervisor of occupational therapy was first appointed in 1952 to survey, examine, and suggest methods for improving occupational therapy programs at mental health and retardation facilities controlled by the department.  Administrative files were created in the course of carrying out these responsibilities.
Restrictions: Personnel/evaluative information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c). For conditions of access consult repository
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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 is created to administer the office, oversee departments, and establish policy.
Arrangement: Arranged by department, thereunder chronologically
Restrictions: Personal information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c), c 66A. 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. One of the charges of the state visiting agency from its establishment per St 1869, c 453 was that it was to be notified when state-supported children were to be committed to any state reform institution. Agents were to attend trials and were allowed to recommend juvenile offenders be placed with a family if more suitable.
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Scope and Content: The Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children conducted at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind from 1848 was incorporated by Massachusetts as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in 1850.  It was renamed Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1883 and Walter E. Fernald State School in 1925.
Arrangement: Arranged numerically in order of examination
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Scope and Content: In 1886 the Massachusetts State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity was renamed the State Board of Lunacy and Charity, while a separate State Board of Health was established. The State Board of Lunacy and Charity inherited all powers and duties of its predecessor except those vested in the newly established State Board of Health, i.e., general supervision and investigative powers over charitable, reformatory, and mental health institutions and some authority over the transfer and removal of patients.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by adoption date
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Scope and Content: The State Advisory Board in the Dept. of Public Welfare (known until reconstitution in 1967 as the Advisory Board) advises the department’s commissioner and approves membership of community service area boards.  St 1952, c 602 gave the board authority to hold public hearings on and to approve by majority vote proposed departmental rules and regulations.  Series includes transcripts of such hearings (with supporting documentation) and of meetings to vote.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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