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. Originally founded as the Allegheny Hospital for the Insane in 1854, this institution did not come under state ownership until 1941. As one of the state's earliest mental hospitals, Woodville reflected much of the influence of Dr. Thomas Kirkbride who advocated the use of one large structure to house both male and female patients, segregated into blocks located to either side of a central administration building. His system of setback wings promoted maximum access of light and air to patient living areas. When the state took control of the hospital, along with all other county mental hospitals in 1941, the Allegheny County Institutional District continued to manage the ""poor"" section of this facility. This arrangement continued until 1958 when the state assumed complete control of all administrative duties.This collection, arranged alphabetically by patient surname, contains registers of patient admissions and discharges at the Allegheny County Hospital for the Insane. Information includes the patient's name, register number, date of admission or discharge, dates of any paroles, and home residence address."
