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: Under successive authorizations, the Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands (1783-1801) and the Land Office were the primary agencies with responsibility for the management and sale of public lands in Maine on behalf of the Commonwealth.  In conducting these activities, they received money from the sale of lands, as well as from state appropriations.  They also disbursed money in meeting their obligations.  These books record and summarize those receipts and expenditures.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Under the Massachusetts Constitution the governor is responsible for nominating and appointing all judicial officers with the advice and consent of the Executive Council.  In 1975,  by Executive Order no. 114, the Judicial Nominating Commission (renamed the Judicial Nominating Council by Executive Order no. 228 in 1983) was established to guarantee an impartial review of all judicial appointees.  Prior to the establishment of the commission, the Governor’s Legal Office assisted the governor in reviewing applications.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by gubernatorial term, thereunder by name, but for Volpe/Sargent see also below
Notes: Volpe (1965-1968) Box 1: arranged alphabetically by name, primarily for district courts.  Boxes 2-4: arranged by county and position, primarily justices and clerks of district courts; also some land and probate courts. Sargent (1969-1974) Box 5: arranged by county and position, including justices, municipal courts. Box 6:  records of committees established to fill a specific judicial position and resumes of appointed judges. See also:  Massachusetts. Governor’s Legal Office. Subject files of the legal counsel ((M-Ar)938X). Volpe/Sargent  (1967-1974: interfiled during Sargent term) Boxes 7-27: arranged alphabetically by name, including application and recommendation letters and responses to them, applicant questionnaires and lists of those recommending candidates: A-Be, Bi-C, B, C, C, D-E, F, G-Gold, Goli-Hi, Ho-Kar, Kal-Lan, Lar-Ly, M, M, Mu-O, P, R, S, S, S-T, U-Z
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Scope and Content: The Commission on Judicial Conduct is the Massachusetts state agency responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct against state court judges and for recommending, when necessary, discipline of judges to the Supreme Judicial Court, through which it is funded.  It consists of three judges appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court, three members of the bar appointed by the chief administrative justice of the Trial Court, and three persons appointed by the governor.  The functions of the commission are currently outlined in MGLA c 211C, added by St 1978, c 478, s 114, as amended.
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Scope and Content: The Governor’s Legal Office advises the governor on all matters of legal concern.  In fulfilling this function it considers judiciary-related issues such as working conditions, compensation, and case loads.  Judicial issue subject files are created to assist policy formation in these areas.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by term, thereunder alphabetically by subject or court
Notes: Scheduled as: Courts/judicial legal issue subject files
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Scope and Content: During the period of the colonial charter (1629-1686), a Council assisted the governor of Massachusetts in an executive capacity, its members consisting of current and former assistants, who also functioned judicially as the Court of Assistants and as the upper house of the General Court.  After an interval during which the Council was appointed by the English Crown (1686-1689), under a revival of colonial government (1689-1692) and during the provincial and later Revolutionary periods (1692-1774, 1775-1780), the Council served in a dual capacity as legislative upper house and executive body.  In the latter role (from 1692 onward, but as well during 1686-1689), the Council had certain judicial functions, though fewer than its predecessor, the Court of Assistants.  Series includes public documents identified with the Council from 1686 onward (and a few related earlier items) in such a judicial role, including testimonies, depositions, writs, warrants, bonds, and divorce petitions.
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