Scope and Content: Programs and institutions for the mentally ill and retarded of Massachusetts were among the responsibilities successively of the Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240), the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (St 1879, c 291), and the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101).  They were then the sole responsibility successively of the State Board of Insanity (St 1898, c 433), the Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), and the Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), renamed the Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486)
Arrangement: Arranged by facility
Restrictions: Restricted as fragile. Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Dept. of Mental Health, 1988. Belchertown plans (1954-1965 only) transferred from Massachusetts Historical Commission, 2008
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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 numerically/chronologically by admission
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 36. Personal medical information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 4, s 7, d 26(c) and c 66A. For conditions of access consult repository
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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 alphabetically by town, thereunder chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Metropolitan District Commission
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Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Water Supply Commission was created for the purpose of extending and increasing the water supply to the Massachusetts metropolitan water system (St 1926, c 375).  The commission was authorized to take property in the watersheds of the Swift and Ware rivers to develop the Swift River Reservoir, renamed Quabbin Reservoir, Oct. 1932.  Preparation for construction of the reservoir involved the purchase of real estate and the removal or destruction of houses, barns, stores, mills, and other commercial properties.  Photographs provide evidence of the structures and surrounding areas used in settling claims
Arrangement:
Restrictions:
Notes:
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Scope and Content: The Boston Elevated Railway Company was established in 1894 and replaced successively by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in 1947 and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1964.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Fragmentary series: March – May 1962 files only
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Scope and Content: As part of its function to design, construct, maintain and operate a Metropolitan Water Works (MWW) system as authorized by St 1895, c 488; St 1901, c 168; and St 1919, c 350, s 123, the Metropolitan Water Board (MWB) (1895-1901), the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (MWSB), Water Works Division (1901-1919), and, later, of the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), Water Division (1919-1985), photographs were created to document the real estate takings for, and the construction and operations of the Metropolitan Water Works (MWW) system.The name Metropolitan Water Works was designated for the system in St 1895, c 488, s 3, as was the name Metropolitan Water District. –Per St 1895, c 488, s 10, the Metropolitan Water Board was authorized to take control of maintenance and operations of portions of the Boston Water Board’s Water Works (BWW) system, from Chestnut Hill Reservoir and westward to the Sudbury River Watershed, and northward to Spot Pond (Stoneham) and Upper Mystic Lake (Winchester). (The name: Metropolitan Water Works is designated for the system in St 1895, c 488, s 3, as is the name: Metropolitan Water District.) Through this legislation, the MWB and MWSB inherited some photographic collections created by the Boston Water Board, and created by the City of Boston Engineering Department for the Boston Water Board.
Restrictions: Glass plate negatives are restricted: no public access
Notes: Series includes accessions from the Metropolitan District Commission (1980), Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (2014), and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (2014). Materials integrated in 2014 to form present series, including transfers from:  Massachusetts. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board. General photographs of the Metropolitan Water Works, 1916 ((M-Ar)887X–entire) and: Massachusetts. Metropolitan District Commission. Construction Division. Water and sewer construction photographs, 1876-1970 ((M-Ar)889X–boxes 1-2, 96-98, 100, and albums constituting subseries 2 of present series). Detailed preservation history of collection, including archival cleaning and rehousing of glass plate negatives (2000-2001) and rehousing of loose photographic prints (2001-2006) by DCR Archives available at electronic link. Detailed holdings summary by volume: about 7,841 negatives (about 7,839 dry plate glass negatives; 2 film negatives); 618 glass lantern slides; 71 (including 2 duplicates) bound volumes of photographic prints; about 1,089 loose photographic prints;  20 volumes of annotated MWB/MWSB annual reports, with MWW image nos.; annotated halftone tearsheets from MWB/MWSB annual reports, with MWW image nos. (1.5 sets); documents: MWW lantern slide lists (27-page document; 23-page document; other lists totaling 11 pages); Wachusett Dam design sketches (2), straight dam and curved dam, 1897. –Detailed holdings summary by dimension: dry plate glass negatives (87, 4″ x 5″); dry plate glass negatives (51, 5″ x 7″); dry plate glass negatives (12, 5″ x 8″); dry plate glass negatives (7,558, 6.5″ x 8.5″); dry plate glass negatives (134, 8″ x10″); film negative (3″ x 3.5″); film negative (7 13/16″ x 39.50″);  glass lantern slides (3.25″ x 4″); loose photographic prints (various sizes, but none larger than 28″ x 23″).
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Scope and Content: During the Civil War, Ship Island, Mississippi, served the Union Army as a place of detention for political prisoners, military convicts, and Confederate prisoners of war.  Series documents activities of Ship Island Provost Marshal James Noyes, successively lieutenant and captain in the 74th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment.
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Scope and Content: In 1863 the Commissioners on Public Lands assumed full responsibility for the maintenance and care of the Mill Dam (now Beacon Street) and the roads and bridges connecting to it.  These roads constituted more than nine miles of roads in  Boston, Brookline, Watertown, and Brighton stretching over the Back Bay area that was filled in over the course of the 19th century.  At this time the commissioners also assumed the right to collect tolls that were put into a Mill Dam account and used to fund repairs and improvements and to build up a reserve of funds to be distributed to the municipalities in which the roads were situated when responsibility for the roads was transferred to them.  The commissioners kept these records of Mill Dam account revenues and expenditures.
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Scope and Content: As part of its function to maintain and supervise the harbors and wetlands of Massachusetts, the Board of Harbor Commissioners was required to account for its activities and expenditures.  Minute books of weekly meetings document measures taken by the board to protect the harbors and tidewaters and insure the navigability of the harbors.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date of meeting
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