The Department of Social Services provides assistance to families and individuals through programs such as child-care block grants, energy assistance, vocational rehabilitation, refugee assistance, programs for the elderly, temporary assistance for needy families, food stamps, Section 8 housing vouchers, and the state child support enforcement plan. The Department has evolved through several titles that reflect the changes in public policy toward those citizens in need: Board of Charities, 1873-84; State Board of Charities, 1884-1921; Department of Public Welfare, 1921-35; Office of the Commissioner of Public Welfare and the Public Welfare Council, 1935-53; Department of Welfare, 1953-75; Department of Social Services, 1975-79; Departments of Human Resources and Income Maintenance, 1979-93; and, once again, the Department of Social Services, 1993-present. The record group contains registers of state paupers accounts that predate the board, 1809-22 (these probably were the State Comptroller's account books) and ledgers created by the Board and subsequent agencies, 1877-1917. The group contains minutes of meetings of the boards through the public welfare council, 1893-1951; a secretary's diary, 1893-1922; several reports and a Master's thesis, and records of the Litchfield County Temporary Home, 1908-15; and the New Haven County Temporary Home, 1899-90, 1910-16.
