Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) (1893-1919) and its successor the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) (since 1919 have been responsible for oversight of the acquisition, maintenance, policing, and use of the Metropolitan Park District (Boston and Surrounding communities), including maintenance of its roads and sewers.  The secretary for the MPC and later the MDC oversaw the operation of all departments.  Outgoing correspondence (recorded in letterpress copybooks) was created to transact commission business including landtaking, contracts, permits for use of parks, pending legislation, and personnel matters.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) (1893-1919) and its successor the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) (since 1919) has been responsible for oversight of the acquisition, maintenance, policing, and use of the Metropolitan Parks District (Boston and surrounding communities), including maintenance of its roads and sewers.  The secretary for the MPC and later the MDC maintained correspondence (recorded in letterpress copybooks) with Commission’s Law Office and the Attorney General’s Office on legal issues relating to routine operations of the agencies.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) (1893-1919) and its successor the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) (since 1919 have been responsible for oversight of the acquisition, maintenance, policing, and use of the Metropolitan Parks District (Boston, and surrounding communities), maintenance of its roads and sewers.  Part of the responsibility of the secretary of the MPC (later of the MDC) was to transmit administrative orders: to the General superintendent until 1896 when this pedition was abolished and then to a Superintendence Department.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically
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Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) (1893-1919) was responsible for acquiring land in the Commonwealth to develop a park system in the Boston metropolitan area for public use.  The Claim Dept. settled claims for payment of property taken.  General correspondence (recorded in letterpress copybooks) from the claim agent is addressed to individuals or legal counsel for individuals whose land has been taken, and concerns settlement of the claim.  Correspondence also includes appraisals and reports detailing claims.  For correspondence after 1901 see: Outgoing general correspondence from the Law Dept. ((M-Ar)1122X)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) (1893-1919) and its successor the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) (since 1919) have been responsible for oversight of the acquisition of land for the Metropolitan Parks District (Boston and surrounding communities).  To arrange for land taking and finalize the transfer of land, the Law Department Conveyancing Department (Division) maintained correspondence (recorded in letterpress copybooks) with property owners and their attorneys, registers of probate, tax collectors, and with the secretary of the MPC to determine title, execute deeds, settle taxes, settle boundaries and transfer title to land taken.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Scheduled as: Land title search Correspondence
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Scope and Content: North Reading State Sanatorium provided care and treatment for tuberculosis patients in Massachusetts from 1909 to 1962, being confined to juvenile clientele from 1927.  However, it also opened outpatient services to adults and children.  Case files were kept by sanatorium medical staff to provide a medical history and record of the physical examination resulting in recommendations for outpatients examined.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no./chronologically
Restrictions: Public health hospital/clinic client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c111, s 70. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Transferred to Western Massachusetts Hospital ca. 1962, when North Reading State Sanatorium closed.  Transferred to Archives, Aug.-Sept. 1982. Files 690-740 missing. Box 1: 640-1154. Box 2: 1155-1599. Box 3: 1600-2191. Box 4: 2193-2634
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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.
Arrangement: Arranged by client no
Restrictions: Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Scheduled as: Client files
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Scope and Content: The State Lunatic Hospital at Northampton was established in 1855 and opened in 1858.  It was successively renamed Northampton Lunatic Hospital in 1862, Northampton Insane Hospital in 1898, and Northampton State Hospital in 1906.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Female consultation cases (2) Male consultation cases; Arranged within each subseries alphabetically by patient
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: The State Lunatic Hospital at Northampton was established in 1855 and opened in 1858.  It was successively renamed Northampton Lunatic Hospital in 1862, Northampton Insane Hospital in 1898, and Northampton State Hospital in 1906.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (2) Springfield district and juvenile courts; Arranged alphabetically within each subseries by patient
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: Under the Massachusetts State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (1879-1886) and the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898), the Dept. of Outdoor Poor was responsible for adults in need of state medical or general assistance not committed to state institutions under the board’s jurisdiction and for juvenile wards of the state under three years of age. Series records amounts paid to temporary guardians for foundlings.
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