The origins of the Department of Education date from an 1838 bill creating a Board of Education to investigate and report on the condition of all common schools. The current State Board of Education dates from 1865. A commissioner, who serves as secretary of the board, heads the Department. This record group contains reporting records, 1845-1979, from state investigative agents and their supervisors, as well as records from the Superintendent of Common Schools, oversight committees, individual schools, county temporary homes, trade and vocational schools, technical schools and adult education. There are reports regarding child labor, school building inspections, finances, school libraries, statistics, and other related studies, together with passports (documents from the early part of the century used as proof for age and a person's school attendance to obtain a work permit). The records also include minutes from organizations within or associated with the Department of Education, including the Board of Education, principals of state normal schools, Secretary and Agents, Connecticut Public School Building Commission, and others. Subject files of Commissioner Mark Shed, 1981-83, student records of the State Trade School at Middletown, 1927-44, records of the Mystic Oral School for the Deaf, and modern school desegregation commission task forces, 1974-97 are also in the record group. Formats include typed and handwritten forms, ledgers, photographs, scrapbooks, stubs, letterbooks, and flowcharts.
