Mansfield Training School records

Series 1. Predecessor Institutions, 1863-1919, includes the records of two institutions that merged to form the Mansfield Training School: the Connecticut School for Imbeciles, located in Lakeville, Connecticut, and the Connecticut Colony for Epileptics, located on the grounds of what became the Mansfield Training School. The Connecticut School for Imbeciles records, 1863-1917, include resident commitments, admission and attendance, personnel and financial information. The Connecticut Colony for Epileptics records, 1911-1919, 1931, consist of research notes, resident commitments, admission and attendance, personnel, financial and facility and land information.

Series 2. Board of Trustees, 1917-1974, includes minutes, superintendent's reports, and Parole Board minutes that reflect the changing attitudes towards the mentally challenged during the beginning decades of the twentieth century through the first few years of the 1970s.

Series 3. Administration, circa 1891-1987, Superintendents' Files, 1919-1971; Joint Committee of Training Schools minutes, 1947-1951, 1968-1969; appointment books, 1956-1957, 1962-1963, 1981; donation records, 1963-1965; and various publications.

Series 4. Mansfield Training School Foundation, 1972-1991, includes the Board of Directors minutes and correspondence. The Foundation was a non-profit organization, comprised mostly of family and friends of residents at the school, to raise money for equipment and programs for the school.

Series 5, Civil Defense, 1943-1955, contains the functional and organizational plan, and forms and informational brochures for the Civil Defense Organization that was based at the Mansfield Training School in case of a threat against the United States, particularly a nuclear attack.

Series 6.Residents, 1884-1986, which comprises the bulk of the collection, includes birth certificates, death certificate receipts, commitment orders, admission and discharge/transfer information, roll call books, register cards, medical records at department levels and for individual residents, charts and files related to residential life, recreational, social and religious activities. The separate accession of 1992 -055 consists of 24 boxes of the case records of discharged residents compiled by the Social Service Department of the Mansfield Training School covering the time period 1920-1959. In addition the series contains outpatient files, circa 1929-1959.

Series 7. Personnel, 1912-1989, complements the resident records. They provide not only information on the administrative side of the operations but also the care and training of residents and the size and variety of staff needed to support the residents and to carry out the mandate of the institution. Records include employment agreements, employee information and departure/transfer index cards and binders, time cards, dismissal and legal action, meeting notes, notices and procedures and newsletters.

Series 8. Finances, 1916-1981, contains various expense and payroll records.

Series 9. Reports, 1917-1990, shows the number and variety of reports required both internally and externally at the school and the importance of statistical data. Population/attendance reports in different formats and medical reports comprise a large segment of this series. Annual reports provide information about what the school accomplished over a given year, major events, admissions, needs, financial statements, statistics, and departmental reports. Reports done by outside agencies are also included, such as the Connecticut Study of Known Retarded Persons that documented all the residents' functional, self-care, social competence, behavior and physical status on a scale.

Series 10. Facilities, 1888-1992, includes real estate deeds and leases, land and building information, maps and blueprints, and proposed construction and land uses.

Series 11. Photographs and slides, circa 1927-1991, depicts the routines and daily life of residents and staff including the training residents received, work residents did on the farm and throughout the campus, and recreational, social and religious activities. Special events are also documented such as theatrical productions, holiday celebrations and excursions. In addition to the aforementioned, training demonstrations and presentations comprise a large segment of the slides. Facilities and educational and entertainment slides represent a much small proportion of the slides.

Series 12. Scrapbooks, 1946-1956, includes one scrapbooks that contains newspaper clippings related to issues and events of the mentally challenged in general and in Connecticut, particularly Southbury and Mansfield Training Schools and another about events and people associated with Mansfield Training School.

Series 13. Artifacts, circa 1949-1975, includes items related to residents and staff.

Series 14. Training, circa 1968-1984, includes audio tapes, video cassettes, films, LPs, and manuals produced both internally and by outside parties.