Letters of placement recommendation, 1854-1871.

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Letters of placement recommendation, 1854-1871.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122506033

The State Almshouse at Monson provided residence for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth from 1854 to 1872. The State Primary School, opened at the almshouse in 1866 and continuing after its closing until 1895, provided lodging, instruction, and employment for dependent and neglected children under age sixteen without settlement in the Commonwealth and some juvenile offenders. Per St 1852, c 275, c 7, almshouse inspectors could place minor inmates out on trial with families, where they were often subsequently indentured. Later school inmates were similarly placed (originally by school inspectors--St 1866, c 209, s 7; then by school trustees--St 1880, c 208, s 1) and periodically monitored by the visiting agent of the Board of State Charities (St 1869, c 453, s 2; St 1870, c 359, s 2--in which called State Visiting Agency) and from 1879 by the Division of Visiting, Dept. of Indoor Poor, State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (State Board of Lunacy and Charity from 1886). These offices (and the almshouse inspectors before them) also visited and approved homes before placement, requiring recommendations on behalf of applicants for placed inmates (St 1869, c 453, s 3; St 1870, c 359, s 4). Series was created to administer this process.

1.25 cubic ft. (1 record center carton)

Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Archives

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SNAC Resource ID: 6740046

Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Archives

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Massachusetts. State Almshouse (Monson, Mass.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6204xfz (corporateBody)

St 1852, c 275 authorized the building of three state almshouses for paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth as certified by overseers of the poor or other local authorities, each with a superintendent and three inspectors who could bind out minors as apprentices. St 1853, c 352 appropriated funds for almshouses in Bridgewater, Monson, and Tewksbury, which opened in 1854. St 1855, c 366 provided for recording by the almshouse superintendent of birth and deaths and the making ...

Massachusetts. State Primary School (Monson, Mass.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61p8s0k (corporateBody)

St 1866, c 209 established at the State Almshouse at Monson a State Primary School for the instruction and employment of dependent and neglected children without settlement in the Commonwealth, to be under the superintendent and inspectors of the almshouse. To it were transferred by the Board of State Charities children under age sixteen from the Monson, Bridgewater, and Tewksbury almshouses, especially orphans (along with children of indigent parents, called dependent) or those who...