DOCUMENTS BY TIME PERIOD: Documents Prior to 1920

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Documents of particular interest and reports and publications from these time periods, as well as documents of that period which do not fall in any other category.

Introduction – State Board of Corrections and Charities

In 1883 the Minnesota Legislature established a six-person State Board of Corrections and Charities to investigate the condition and management of "the whole system of public charities and correctional institutions" and to publish a report of their findings every two years. Minnesota Laws 1883, chapter 127. The Legislature expanded these duties during the years that followed. In 1901, the Board was abolished and replaced by the Board of Control. Minnesota Laws 1901, chapter 122. With an Eye to the Past includes excerpts from the Biennial Reports which relate to the School for the Feeble-Minded at Faribault. These Reports are available at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Historical Society libraries.

Introductory Note – State Conference of Charities and Corrections

In 1893, the State Board of Corrections and Charities decided to call a statewide conference at which persons involved in charities and corrections work could meet to exchange views and share their experiences. The members of this State Conference of Charities and Corrections included state and county officials and employees, officers and employees of private institutions and societies, and citizens interested in social issues. Presentations were made at the annual conference on a wide variety of issues. With an Eye to the Past includes excerpts from those proceedings pertaining to persons with developmental disabilities or presented by persons from the School for the Feeble-Minded at Faribault. In 1920 the name of the Conference was changed to the State Conference of Social Work. The organization is currently known as the Minnesota Social Services Association. These Proceedings are available at the Minnesota Historical Society Library.

Introductory Note – Quarterly Conferences of the Board of Control

In 1901 the Legislature, with the support of Governor Van Sant, established the Board of Control "to manage, control and govern" the School for the Feeble-Minded at Faribault, the state hospitals, and other state institutions. Minnesota Laws 1901, chapter 122. Both the boards of trustees that had responsibility for those institutions and the Board of Corrections and Charities were abolished. For the first time there was a central board to govern the institutions, which had authority similar to that currently exercised by the Department of Human Services. The Board was abolished in 1939 with the creation of the state Department of Social Security. Minnesota Laws 1939, chapter 439.

Section 3 of the 1901 law required the Board to meet in conference on a regular basis with the superintendents, wardens, and other executive officers of the institutions for which it had jurisdiction to discuss questions of management and how to secure economical management. The law required that minutes of these conferences be made and preserved.

With an Eye to the Past includes most of the presentations and comments at these conferences by persons from the School for the Feeble-Minded at Faribault, the Colony for Epileptics at Cambridge, and the Minnesota State Hospital for Crippled and Deformed Children, as well as presentations and discussions relating to persons with developmental disabilities. Also included are copies of the complete Table of Contents and Indexes.

The first of these Quarterly Conferences was held on July 30, 1901. The typewritten papers from the conferences from 1901 to May 1909 were bound in five numbered volumes which are at the Minnesota Historical Society. Box 109.F.13.9(B). Starting in 1906, the papers and proceedings were printed in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Board of Control. (There is some overlap from 1906 to 1909, with the proceedings available at the Historical Society in both forms.) The first two volumes of the printed Bulletin were numbered I and II. The November 1907 volume was numbered Volume VII, reflecting the fact that there were earlier volumes of the bound papers.

In her 1934 Comments on History of Board of Control included here, Blanch L. La Du stated, erroneously, that the first of the quarterly conferences were held five years after the Board of Control was established. Apparently, the bound typewritten papers were not available to her.

The published Quarterly Bulletin of the Board of Control is available at the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Historical Society libraries. The bound typewritten papers are available at the Minnesota Historical Society.