Perkins School for the Blind

The New England Asylum for the Blind was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1829 (St 1828, c 111); and opened in Boston in 1832 as the New England Institution for the Education of 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.

Although not a state agency, the School by the terms of its incorporation received state support for students sent to it by the Commonwealth. The Board of Education was given supervision of the process (previously under the state secretary) by St 1885, c 118; it has continued from 1919 by the Department of Education. The school was specifically named in relevant legislation (MGLA c 69, s 26) until that section's repeal by St 1972, c 766, s 8.