Massachusetts. State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity

The Board of State Charities, which had oversight of charitable and correctional institutions in Massachusetts, 1863-1879, was succeeded in this function by the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity.

The State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity was established by St 1879, c 291 to have general supervision over all state charitable and reformatory institutions, including the state lunatic hospitals, the State Almshouse, the State Workhouse, the State Primary School, the State Reform School, and the State Industrial School for Girls. The board assumed powers and duties vested in the following boards, which were abolished under the law: State Board of Health; Board of State Charities; boards of trustees of the State Reform School and the State Industrial School; boards of inspectors of the State Primary School, the State Almshouse, and the State Workhouse; the advisory boards of women to the inspectors of the State Almshouse and of the State Primary School; trustees of the State Reform School; and the visiting agency to the Board of State Charities.

Under general supervision of the board, the following boards of trustees were established under this legislation to have closer supervision over the institutions, replacing boards of trustees or inspectors abolished: Trustees of the State Primary and Reform Schools, for the State Reform School at Westborough, the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, and the State Primary School at Monson; the Board of Trustees of the State Almshouse; and the Board of Trustees of the State Workhouse. Hospitals and asylums for the mentally ill and mentally retarded continued to be governed by their individual boards of trustees as before (but within the supervisory range of the board)

Composed of nine unpaid members appointed by the governor, the board was to act as commissioners of lunacy (pursuant to St 1874, c 363), and so was authorized to investigate the question of the insanity and condition of any person committed to any public or private hospital or asylum, to discharge patients as it saw fit, and to visit and inspect every public and private asylum (or other facilities for the insane) in Massachusetts at least twice a year. In addition the board was authorized to investigate contagious or infectious diseases dangerous to the public health and find means to prevent their spread.

The work of the board was carried out by four standing committees and four officers: Committee on Health, Committee on Lunacy, Committee on Charities, Executive Committee (consisting of the chairs of the other standing committees), Health Officer, Superintendent of Outdoor Poor (Dept. of Outdoor Poor), Superintendent of Indoor Poor (Dept. of Indoor Poor), and Inspector of Charities.

The board's powers subsequently increased: St 1880, c 250, s 5 authorized the board to transfer and commit to lunatic hospitals and asylums inmates of the State Almshouse or State Workhouse (provided that certificates from two physicians were obtained) and to appoint experts to examine convicts in state and reformatory prisons and make recommendations to the governor for their transfer to the state lunatic hospitals; St 1884, c 234 allowed cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to establish asylums for the care and treatment of mentally ill persons, gaving the board investigative, transfer, and removal powers over these institutions; and St 1885, c 385 authorized it to place at board in private families insane persons of the so-called chronic and quiet class.

St 1886, c 101, created a separate State Board of Health; with this function removed, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity was renamed the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (which see)

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agency described above can be found by searching the following access point for the time period stated: 1879-1886--Massachusetts. State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity.