Research

Scope and Content Note

These minutes were compiled by the board secretary. An entry for each meeting begins with the date and a list of the members present, followed by a summary of the proceedings. Included are verbatim transcripts or copies of resolutions and reports considered by the board. Much of the business conducted by the board was based on information contained in reports submitted by board committees and by the superintendent and other institution officials.

Typical of business transacted at the meetings were the following: establishment of committees and appointment of committee members; adoption or amendment of bylaws; hiring of staff, including their duties and salaries; planning and policy-making, as for example, the building of a new school, removal of the girls division, or the use of corporal punishment; review of finances; and handling special problems, such as incidents of violence or vandalism.

The Board of Managers became the Board of Visitors in 1927, when the newly created Department of Charities assumed administrative responsibility for the reformatory. The last three volumes of the series document meetings of the Board of Visitors, which served as an advisory body to school and department administrators.

The entries are handwritten until 1889 and typewritten thereafter. Minutes for the period November 1871 to November 1879 are missing.