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. The Harrisburg State Hospital was created as the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital and Union Asylum for the Insane in 1845 (P. L. 440) to provide care for mentally ill persons throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Under this legislation, a nine-member Board of Trustees was empowered to appoint a superintendent, purchase land, and construct facilities near Harrisburg. In 1848 the name of the hospital was changed to the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital when $50,000 was appropriated to begin construction. When the first patient was admitted on October 6, 1851, every poor district was charged a $2.00 weekly maintenance fee for the care of each indigent patient. The boarding charges for private patients were scheduled to vary between $3.00 and $10.00 based upon ability to pay. In 1869, the Board of Public Charities was created to inspect all public and voluntary charitable institutions in the Commonwealth and to report to the legislature with recommendations concerning their operation. For four decades this unpaid Board and its small staff had no authority to correct the conditions it found. Nonetheless, by persuasion and publicity they were able to improve the quality of care in public institutions. A major objective was the removal of the insane from almshouses to the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital and other state hospitals. A Committee on Lunacy was created within the Board of Public Charities in 1883 to oversee the operations of these mental institutions. In 1921, the name of the hospital was changed to the Harrisburg State Hospital. In that year, the Board of Public Charities was abolished and in 1921 the Department of Public Welfare was created to administer all state hospitals. Until 1955 certain administrative responsibilities, such as the selection of the hospital superintendent and the enactment of rules and regulations governing the hospital, were vested in the Board of Trustees of the Harrisburg State Hospital. In 1955 an amendment to the Administrative Code authorized the Department of Public Welfare to assume administrative responsibilities for the Harrisburg State Hospital, relegating its Board of Trustees to specific advisory duties. This act also provided for the appointment of a Commissioner of Mental Health in the Department of Public Welfare who assumed overall responsibility for Pennsylvania's mental health program. This collection, arranged chronologically by admission date, contains records of clothing issued to female patients. Information given includes each patient's name, registration number, admittance date and a list of the clothing items issued to her.
