About This Collection
The origins of the department began with the 1869 creation of the Board of Public Charities, charged with inspection of all charitable, penal, and correctional institutions in the Commonwealth. A Committee on Lunacy, established by the Board in 1883, examined places specifically for the confinement of the insane. In 1921 the Board was abolished, and the Department of Public Welfare was created in its place to coordinate and administer welfare programs. In 1923 the name of the Department of Public Welfare was changed to the Department of Welfare. A State Emergency Relief Board, established as part of the Department of Welfare in 1932, handled unemployment work relief as a result of the Great Depression. In 1937, the Department of Public Assistance was created to centralize relief programs. The State Emergency Relief Board was therefore abolished and its powers and duties, along with those of the Welfare Department's Bureau of Assistance, transferred to this new agency. Public Assistance also administered the State Board of Public Assistance and the County Boards of Assistance. It was also one of the first three state agencies to implement a merit system for employee hiring (the others being the Liquor Control Board and the Department of Labor and Industry). More on that process can be found among the records of the Civil Service Commission (RG/003). Supervision over penal and correctional institutions was transferred in 1953 from the Department of Welfare’s Bureau of Penal Affairs to the Department of Justice (RG/015) and later to the Department of Corrections (RG/058). The Departments of Public Assistance and Welfare merged in 1958 to form the Department of Public Welfare. In 2014, the Department’s name changed to the Department of Human Services. As the primary state agency concerned with the social welfare and financial needs of the citizens of the Commonwealth, the Department administers a wide range of services including: public assistance, medical assistance, aid to the handicapped, mental health and retardation programs and institutions, and the licensing and inspection of nursing homes, day-care centers and hospitals. Pennsylvania Legislative Act 90 passed on April 13, 1868 authorized acquisition of land and construction of the Danville State Hospital in Montour County and Act 54 of March 27, 1873 established a governing board. This collection contains handwritten copies of commitment orders from the Court of Common Pleas or Quarter Sessions which committed patients to Danville State Hospital, and named persons responsible to pay their keep. The orders are arranged numerically by register numbers found in RG/023/AMEH/DANV/24- Female Admission Registers, 1884-1923 and RG/023/AMEH/DANV/35- Male Admission Register, 1884-1923. Disclaimer: The Pennsylvania State Archives provides digital access to a wide variety of historical documents, some of which may be considered offensive by current standards. The Archives does not endorse views expressed in these historical collections, but presents these collections to aid in scholarly research.
