Scope and Content: Massachusetts has administered water works and sewage disposal for the Boston metropolitan area successively through the Board of Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners (Metropolitan Sewerage Commission) (1889-1901) and the Metropolitan Water Board (1895-1901); the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919); and the Water and Sewerage Divisions of the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-1985).  Since 1985, the sewerage works functions have been assigned to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the water works functions have been shared by the MWRA (distribution) and the Metropolitan District Commission (to 2003) and the Dept.  of Conservation and Recreation (since 2003) (water supply reservoirs and their watershed management).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission
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Scope and Content: Per St 1867 c 243, s 1, in Massachusetts every private society or institution for charitable purposes that was aided by a grant of money from the state treasury had to prepare and send to the Board of State Charities a report of all its proceedings, income, and expenditures. (Per St 1875, c 118, institutions for the instruction of the deaf and dumb and of the blind were to report instead to the Board of Education.)  The 1867 mandate extended to reporters to Board of State Charities successors, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (1879-1886) (see PS 1882, s 16), the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898), and the State Board of Charity (1898-1919) (RL 1902, c 84, s 13). It was apparently subsumed (per RL 1902-1908 supplement) under an omnibus provision for statewide annual reports (St 1905, c 211). –Meantime, per St 1899, c 259 , as amended by St 1901,  c 179 (RL c 1902, c 84, s 14 ), every charitable organization whose personal property was exempt from taxation by PS c 11 s 5 (RL 1902, c 12, s 5 per St 1903, c 402) was to transmit to the State Board of Charity an annual report showing property, receipts, expenditures, number of beneficiaries and other information. St 1901, c 405 made the board responsible for investigating the applicants and proposed purpose of those applying for charitable incorporation for illegal activity or unsuitable persons before the issuance of a certificate of incorporation by the state secretary. –St 1909, c 379, as amended by St 1913, c 82, required the board, upon the request or with the consent of a charitable corporation required to make an annual report, to visit and inspect the institution or investigate the work of the corporation.  St 1919, c 350, s 87 abolished the Board of State Charities, replacing it with a Dept. of Public Welfare, with responsibility for the same function (GL 1921, c 180, s 11),  successively through its Subdivision of Private Incorporated Charities and Bureau of Incorporated Charities. –Per St 1954, c 529, s 1 (MGLA c 12, ss 8A-M), the responsibilities for charitable corporations were passed to a newly established Division of Public Charities in the Attorney General’s Office. A public charity had to file with the division a copy of its charter and articles or certificates of incorporation, along with an annual fiscal year report in order to obtain official status as a charitable institution. Filings with the division include audits, probate files such as trust instruments, annual financial reports, wills, probate court pleadings and filed actions, and subsequent status reports.
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Scope and Content: Charles Nelson Gardner was born Mar. 29, 1845 in South Scituate, Mass. (later Norwell). Enlisted (Private) in the 18th Regt. Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Company G), Aug. 4, 1862, discharged Feb. 7, 1864, and re-enlisted Feb. 8, 1864. Transferred to 32nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Oct. 21, 1864 (Company E); awarded Medal of Honor, Apr. 27, 1865 for capturing Confederate flag at the Battle of Five Forks, Va., Apr. 1, 1865;  commissioned 2nd Lieut., Apr. 1, 1865; discharged  June 7, 1865.  Transferred to Company D, June 8, 1865; mustered out June 29, 1865. Served in Massachusetts General Court, House of Representatives, 1901-1902. He died in Norwell, Feb. 22, 1919.
Notes:

Transferred to Archives, Sept. 2011. Gift of Deborah Rogers, Canton, Mass.

Contents (all items created by or relating to Gardner unless otherwise noted):

• Civil War diary, 1864-1865.
• Status documents: discharge, Feb. 7, 1864; application for discharge, June 6, 1865; discharge, June 7, 1865; muster-in roll, June 8, 1865; discharge, June 29, 1865.
• Medal of Honor and related documents: report of flag capture, Apr. 22, 1865; transmittal, May 3, 1865; delivery, May 20, 1865; certificate, Oct. 8, 1916.
• Dedication of the Soldiers’ Monument erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at Andersonville, Georgia, Thursday, December 19, 1901 (booklet and commemorative medal).
• Clasp pin, 1917 (otherwise unidentified).
• Miscellaneous documents/clippings (12) relating to Gardner, Medal of Honor, and other Civil War veterans.
• Photographs: carte-de-visite (Gardner portrait) and enlargement; Norwell G.A.R. group including Gardner; D. Willard Robinson Post 112 (G.A.R., Norwell) taken after Gardner’s death.

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Scope and Content: Middlesex County was incorporated on May 10, 1643 (Mass Recs 2:38), continuing under successive governments of Massachusetts, most recently the Commonwealth (1780), as outlined in MGLA c 34.  Administrative powers and duties previously exercised at various times under the laws of the Commonwealth by the county courts of general sessions of the peace, county courts of common pleas, and circuit courts of common pleas, were assigned to commissioners in Middlesex and other counties, per St 1827, c 77 (1828).  The government of Middlesex County in this and other respects was abolished as of the effective date of St 1997, c 48 (approved July 11, 1997)
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Scope and Content: Middlesex County was incorporated on May 10, 1643 (Mass Recs 2:38), continuing under successive governments of Massachusetts, most recently the Commonwealth (1780), as outlined in MGLA c 34.  Administrative powers and duties previously exercised at various times under the laws of the Commonwealth by the county courts of general sessions of the peace, county courts of common pleas, and circuit courts of common pleas, were assigned to commissioners in Middlesex and other counties, per St 1827, c 77 (1828).  The government of Middlesex County in this and other respects was abolished as of the effective date of St 1997, c 48 (approved July 11, 1997)
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Scope and Content: The Dept. of Corporations and Taxation was established in 1919 by combining the offices of Tax Commissioner and Commissioner of Corporations.  It was replaced in 1978 by the Dept. of Revenue.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by year, thereunder by transaction
Notes: Box 1: 1966-1971 Box 2: 1972-1974
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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.
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts has administered water works and sewage disposal for the Boston metropolitan area successively through the Board of Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners (Metropolitan Sewerage Commission) (1889-1901) and the Metropolitan Water Board (1895-1901); the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919); and the Water and Sewerage Divisions of the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-1985).  Since 1985, the sewerage works functions have been assigned to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the water works functions have been shared by the MWRA (distribution) and the Metropolitan District Commission (to 2003) and the Dept.  of Conservation and Recreation (since 2003) (water supply reservoirs and their watershed management).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission, Reports for 1966-1970, 1972, 1977, 1980 lacking
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts has administered water works and sewage disposal for the Boston metropolitan area successively through the Board of Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners (Metropolitan Sewerage Commission) (1889-1901) and the Metropolitan Water Board (1895-1901); the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919); and the Water and Sewerage Divisions of the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-1985).  Since 1985, the sewerage works functions have been assigned to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the water works functions have been shared by the MWRA (distribution) and the Metropolitan District Commission (to 2003) and the Dept.  of Conservation and Recreation (since 2003) (water supply reservoirs and their watershed management).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts has administered water works and sewage disposal for the Boston metropolitan area successively through the Board of Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners (Metropolitan Sewerage Commission) (1889-1901) and the Metropolitan Water Board (1895-1901); the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919); and the Water and Sewerage Divisions of the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-1985). Since 1985, the sewerage works functions have been assigned to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the water works functions have been shared by the MWRA (distribution) and the Metropolitan District Commission (to 2003) and the Dept.  of Conservation and Recreation (since 2003) (water supply reservoirs and their watershed management).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission
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