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.
Related Catalog Records:
Case notes of minor wards [Massachusetts Board of State Charities Visiting Agency]
Survey responses to Juvenile Court questionnaire [Massachusetts Board of State Charities Visiting Agency]
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.
Related Catalog Records:
Placement applications [Massachusetts Board of State Charities Visiting Agency]
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.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by application date
Related Catalog Records:
Annual reports [Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind]
Scope and Content: The New England Asylum for the Blind was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1829; it opened in Boston in 1832 as the New England Institution for the Blind. It was successively renamed the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind in 1839, the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind in 1877, and the Perkins School for the Blind in 1955. The institution relocated in Watertown in 1912.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Public document, no. 27. Reports for 1852-1856, 1897-1898, 1900 missing.
Related Catalog Records:
State care and treatment of lepers in Massachusetts [Penikese Hospital (Penikese Island, Mass.).]
Scope and Content: The Penikese Hospital was founded in 1905 for the care and treatment of lepers. This narrative, composed by the secretary of the State Board of Charity, tells of the origins, establishment, and development of the hospital.
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Dept. of Public Welfare, 1981.
Related Catalog Records:
Patient histories and register [Penikese Hospital (Penikese Island, Mass.).]
Scope and Content: The Penikese Hospital was founded in 1905 for the care and treatment of lepers. These case histories and register show the medical and social background of the patients at the hospital.
Notes: Acquired from the Department of Public Welfare in 1981. Some materials were created after the loss of patient records to fire in 1912
Related Catalog Records:
Weekly reports of admissions and discharges [Massachusetts State Almshouse (Monson, Mass.).]
Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 until 1872. Series was created to record admissions to and discharges from the institution on a weekly basis as reported by superintendent to parent state agency–Board of Alien Commissioners; from 1863, Board of State Charities.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Related Catalog Records:
Bills for goods and services [Massachusetts State Almshouse (Monson, Mass.).]
Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without residence in the Commonwealth from 1854 until 1872. The institution managed an annual budget to sustain its operations. Attendant financial records include bills received for purchased goods and services, including transportation charges.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Related Catalog Records:
Acknowledgements and denials of settlement [Massachusetts State Almshouse (Monson, Mass.).]
Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 until 1872. St 1855, c 446, s 4 and St 1856, c 108, s 5 provided that if paupers, lunatics, and idiots sent to the almshouses were ascertained to have settlement, the municipality of such settlement was liable for expenses incurred until their removal. Series consist of statements from municipal overseers of the poor that inmate has or has not settlement, and that the municipality therefore is/is not liable for expenses and removal.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Related Catalog Records:
Bills rendered for support of sick state paupers [Bills rendered for support of sick state paupers]
Scope and Content: The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 to 1872. The institution managed an annual budget to sustain its operations. Attendant financial records include bills and correspondence between almshouse and municipalities relating to medical expenses incurred in caring for and transporting sick paupers.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Related Catalog Records:
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