|
Wisconsin Historical
Society (WISCONSIN STATE ARCHIVES)
-- Poorhouse Holdings |
| All of
the information below was found on the website
of the Wisconsin State Archives through their on-line
catalogue. Please do your own search for this and other similar
information. We used the search terms: "County Home",
"Almshouse", "Poorhouse", and "Poor
Farm" in their Guided Search section. (We may have missed
some!) You may wish to search the entire list for the county in which
you are interested (even if it is not listed here) to read the
descriptions carefully; you could find poorhouse type institutions
referred to with different terms. PHL |
|
IMPORTANT
NOTE:
Be sure to check their website or call to find out about where
these records are physically located now
(perhaps at an ARC rather than the Madison
headquarters),
and to find out what restrictions may apply to access to
some records. |
|
(ARC) for the Wisconsin State Archives
(list of
counties served by each) |
| |
|
|
| County |
Summary Information |
Abstract / Description |
| |
|
|
| BROWN |
| Hickory
Grove Sanatorium (Brown County, Wis.)
|
| Title: |
Annual reports, 1944-1972 |
| Quantity: |
0.2 c.f.
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
| Notes: |
This series is unprocessed.
|
|
Printed reports submitted to the
County Board of Supervisors by the sanatorium which focused on the
treatment of tuberculosis. Reports contain financial summaries,
narrative statements, medical treatment information, and patient
statistics. The report for 1944
also contains similar information for the Brown County Asylum, Brown
County Home, and Brown County Work House. |
| |
| Brown
County (Wis.). Superintendent of the Poor.
|
| Title: |
Reports, 1857-1879 |
| Quantity: |
0.1 c.f. (1 volume)
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
|
Minutes and annual reports by the
superintendent giving accounts which list the name of claimant and
amount; account of relief to paupers living outside the poorhouse; and
average number of paupers in poorhouse and cost per inmate. |
| CHIPPEWA |
| Title: |
Maintenance record of the Chippewa
County poor, 1900-1938
|
| Quantity: |
1.0 c.f.
|
| Notes: |
This series is unprocessed.
|
|
Payment ledger of the County Home,
1900-1938. Vol. 1 (1900-1911); v. 2 (1912-1924); v. 3 (missing); v. 4
(1936-1938). Qty: 1.0 c.f. (3 volumes)
|
| DANE |
Title:
Dane County Hospital and Home (Wis.): Records,
Inclusive Dates: 1854-1964
Creator: Dane County Hospital and Home (Wis.)
Call No.: Dane Series 310
Extent: 10.0 c.f. (10 archives boxes, 4 flat boxes, and
8 volumes) |
Records of a Dane County institution
established in Verona, Wisconsin in 1854 which has been responsible at
various times during its history for the care of the indigent elderly
and the mentally ill and for the treatment of alcoholics. Included are
annual reports to the State Board of Control, minutes of the board of
trustees and the separate governing bodies under which the institution
operated during its early history, minutes of the building committee
responsible for constructions at the institution, patient and inmate
registers containing biographical data and information on the causes of
the patients' insanity and/or indigence, a narrative journal of E.P.
Titus, overseer of the Poor Farm (1877-1882), restraint records
(1883-1887 and 1932-1941), and records of financial expenditures for the
period 1875 to 1964. Printed annual reports to the Dane County Board of
Supervisors are available in the government documents section of the
SHSW Library. |
|
Contents List
| Container |
Title |
| Box
1 |
Folder
1 |
Annual Reports of the Poor House to the
State Board of Control, 1880-1926
|
| |
Minutes
|
| |
Trustees of the Asylum
|
| Box
1 |
Folder
2 |
1883-1895
|
| Box
1 |
Folder
3 |
1884-1924 (includes reports, 1884-1892)
|
| Box
1 |
Folder
4 |
Commissioner of the Poor, 1897-1917
|
| |
Trustees of the Asylum and Home
|
| Box
2 |
Folder
1 |
1924-1937
|
| Box
3 |
|
1935-1956
|
| Box
4 |
Folder
1 |
1957-1963
|
| |
Building Committee
|
| Box
4 |
Folder
2 |
1894-1895
|
| Box
4 |
Folder
3 |
1911-1913
|
| Box
2 |
Folder
2 |
1921-1929
|
| Box
4 |
Folder
4 |
Journal of Poor House Overseer E.P. Titus,
1877-1882
|
| |
Inmate and patient registers
|
| |
Insane Asylum
|
| Box
4 |
Folder
5 |
1883-1895
|
| Box
12 |
Folder
1 |
1907-1914 (?) (Patients # 1-594)
|
| Box
12 |
Folder
2 |
1883-1907
|
| Box
14 |
|
Annual register, 1926-1941
|
| |
Poor House
|
| Box
13 |
|
1854-1926
|
| Box
5 |
Folder
1 |
Overseer's diary of transfers, 1914-1922
|
| Box
5 |
Folder
2 |
Overseer's diary of admissions, 1911-1933
|
| Box
5 |
Folder
3 |
1891-1904
|
| Box
5 |
Folder
4 |
1904-1919
|
| Box
5 |
Folder
5 |
1933-1951
|
| |
Restraint records
|
| Box
6 |
Folder
1 |
1883-1887
|
| Box
6 |
Folder
2-3 |
1932-1941
|
| |
Financial records
|
| |
Poor House
|
| Box
6 |
Folder
4 |
Overseer's account book, 1875-1890
|
| |
Classified expenditure journals
|
| Box
6 |
Folder
5 |
1887-1893
|
| Box
7 |
Folder
1 |
1892-1897
|
| Box
7 |
Folder
2 |
1903-1904
|
| Box
7 |
Folder
3 |
1908-1914
|
| |
Day Books
|
| Box
7 |
Folder
4 |
1906-1908
|
| Box
8 |
Folder
1 |
1910-1914
|
| |
Insane Asylum
|
| Box
8 |
Folder
2 |
Overseer's account book, 1883-1901
|
| |
Classified expenditure journals
|
| Box
8 |
Folder
3 |
1887-1892
|
| Box
8 |
Folder
4 |
1893-1898
|
| Box
9 |
Folder
1 |
1898-1903
|
| Box
9 |
Folder
2 |
1903-1904
|
| Box
9 |
Folder
3 |
1907-1914
|
| |
Day books
|
| Box
10 |
Folder
1 |
1905-1908
|
| Box
10 |
Folder
2 |
1908-1914
|
| |
Joint institutional records
|
| |
Voucher registers
|
| Volume
1 |
|
1913-1919
|
| Volume
2 |
|
1920-1927
|
| Volume
3 |
|
1927-1934
|
| Volume
4 |
|
1934-1938
|
| Volume
5 |
|
1938-1942
|
| Volume
6 |
|
1942-1945
|
| Volume
7 |
|
1945-1949
|
| Volume
8 |
|
1949-1951
|
| |
Miscellaneous operating expense records
|
| Box
10 |
Folder
3 |
1942-1952
|
| Box
10 |
Folder
4 |
1944-1952
|
| Box
10 |
Folder
5 |
1945-1951
|
| Box
11 |
Folder
1 |
1954-1955
|
| Box
11 |
Folder
2 |
1957-1962
|
| Box
11 |
Folder
3 |
Expense journal, 1944-1964
|
|
| |
| DUNN |
| Title: |
Records, 1891-1978
|
| Quantity: |
2.0 c.f. (5 archives boxes, 1 flat box, 1
oversize folder) and
photographs |
|
Records of a Dunn County institution
originally founded as the Dunn County Asylum for the Chronic Insane
(1892) and the Dunn County Poor House (later known as the Dunn County
Home). During the 1940s, the two institutions became the Dunn County
Hospital and Home. In 1972, a new facility that
included a nursing home and a psychiatric unit was opened under the name
Dunn County Heath Care Center. The records primarily document the
institutions' financial history.
Included are unpublished annual reports, audit reports by the Wisconsin
Tax Commission, and reimbursement bills submitted to the state and other
counties. Patient records primarily consist of lists of original
residents of the asylum, residents from the 1930s and 1940s, and a
population movement book, 1955-1970, although additional information
about individual patients is included in other records in the series.
Miscellaneous records include minutes of the original asylum building
commission (which included J. H. Stout and A. R. Hall), architectural
plans and photographs, brochures, employee rules and lists, property
inventories, a patient diary dated 1915-1916, a journal of crops raised,
and leases.
|
| FOND du LAC |
Fond
du Lac County
Insane Asylum and Poor House (Wis.)
|
| Title: |
Records, 1921-1969
|
| Quantity: |
0.6 c.f.
|
| Arrangement: |
By type of record.
|
| Notes: |
This series is unprocessed.
|
|
[Not given.] |
| FOREST |
| Forest
County (Wis.).Clerk
|
| Title: |
Misc. reports, 1890-1936 |
| Quantity: |
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
|
| Arrangement: |
By type of record and thereunder
chronological.
|
|
Included are statistics of wealth
for the 1890 U.S. census; abstracts of taxes (1892 and 1903-1910),
assessment rolls (1903, 1905-1910), and indebtedness and assessed
valuations (1903-1910); statement of taxes and indebtedness for 1911 (by
town); statements of bank stock (1905, 1907, 1909, 1910); tax levy for
schools (1903-1905, 1907-1909, 1911); outdoor
relief reports (1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1910); charges for insane
and judgments (1911); and reports
for the county home (1935 and 1936). |
| GRANT |
| Grant
County (Wis.). Clerk.
|
| Title: |
Audit reports, 1924-1981 |
| Quantity: |
3.0 c.f.
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
| Notes: |
This series is unprocessed.
|
|
Audit reports and supporting papers
submitted to the Board of Supervisors by the Bureau of Municipal Audit
or by public accountants employed by the Board to make the annual audit.
Each report contains a statement by the auditor on the condition of the
financial records of the county and any errors that were found. Summary
financial statements of all the county funds showing the receipts,
disbursements, and various funds for the year follows. Each volume
contains an audit of each county department. Beginning
in 1937, the audit of the Grant County Hospital and Home (through
time also known as the Grant County Home, Grant County
Home and Asylum, and currently Orchard Manor) is bound in a separate
volume. |
| GREEN |
| Green
County (Wis.). Board of Supervisors.
|
| Title: |
Board proceedings and papers, 1838-1925. |
| Quantity: |
4.2 c.f. (11
archives boxes)
|
| Arrangement: |
By year.
|
|
Proceedings of the County
Commissioners and Board of Supervisors including minutes of board
meetings, committee reports, reports of county officers and commissions,
financial reports, communications to the board, and other papers. There
is substantial material pertaining to the county poor farm and asylum,
the county's justice courts, the establishment of town governments,
school districts, road building, and tax assessment. |
| IOWA |
| Wisconsin,
County Court (Iowa County)
|
| Title: |
Insanity decisions, 1859-1936. |
| Quantity: |
0.4 c.f. (1 volume)
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
| Summary: |
|
| Finding
aid: |
Index for 1859-1877 on separate pages,
inserted in front of volume.
|
|
Records of insanity decisions
(1859-77, 1892-95) made by the County Court Judge including judge's
decision based on recommendations; judge's orders releasing persons no
longer judged insane; judge's order granting guardianship of insane
persons; and guardians' accounts. Other cases include wife abandonment;
dependent child; appointment of guardians for "spendthrifts," and
judge's order forcing individuals in the poorhouse. The results
of an 1892 jury trial on sanity are included (pp. 1-103, 222-227.
336-369).
Later records (1879-1936) contain only names of insane persons and
doctors; date of application for judgment and date of judgment; and
remarks on release, transfer, parole, or death of insane person.
1898-1936 records include date of commitment and institution (pp.
200-221, 228-271). |
| LINCOLN |
| Lincoln
County Home (Wis.)
|
| Title: |
Disbursement journal, 1909-1916. |
| Quantity: |
0.6 c.f. (1 volume)
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
|
Journal showing amounts and dates of
disbursements to individuals and firms by type of expenditure, e.g.
wages, provisions, burial expenses, and "outside help and
aid"; and a monthly total of accounts. |
| PIERCE |
| Pierce
County (Wis.). Clerk
|
| Title: |
County welfare records, 1853-1958
and undated
|
| Quantity: |
2.2 c.f. (6 archives boxes)
|
| Arrangement: |
By year.
|
|
Records filed with the county clerk
dealing with the operation of various welfare and relief programs which
the county administered, including the county poor farm, outdoor relief,
aid to the disabled, and aid to dependent children. Included are reports
of the Superintendent of the Poor and of the county commissions; lists
of persons receiving aid; and legal documents such as the commitment of
persons to the poor house. |
| POLK |
| Polk
County (Wis.).Clerk.
|
| Title: |
Report on outdoor relief and pauperism. 1880-1920 |
| Quantity: |
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
|
Reports, 1882-1920, of towns to the
county clerk giving the number and amount of relief paid by the town to
persons not residing at the poor farm; and reports, 1880-1881, of the
county clerk to the State Board of Charities and Reform on pauperism,
listing number of cases, number of liquor licenses, and costs detailed
by town. |
| |
| Polk
County (Wis.). Superintendent of the Poor.
|
| Title: |
County Home records, 1876-1934. |
| Quantity: |
1.9 c.f. (4 archives boxes and 1 flat box)
|
| Arrangement: |
By type of record and thereunder
chronological or by account.
|
| Finding
aid: |
Ledgers usually include indexes.
|
|
Records, primarily financial, of the
County Home, also called the Poor Farm. There are 4 volumes of day
books, 1882-1920, listing the day-to-day expenditures and receipts of
the home; 13 volumes of ledgers, 1876-1934, of the home's accounts with
firms and individuals it did business with as well as expenditures on
its inmates; 2 volumes of ledgers listing expenditures on Outdoor
Relief, 1885-1888; and one volume of minutes of the county committee on
the County Home, 1919-1934. |
| RACINE |
| Racine
County Hospitals and Home (Wis.)
|
| Title: |
Annual reports of the Asylum, Home, and Hospital, 1921-1969 |
| Quantity: |
0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)
|
| Arrangement: |
By year.
|
|
Records showing cash balances, value
of property, detailed breakdown of expenditures, inventories of farm
livestock, farm revenues, statistics on the patient population, and
statements of the Board of Trustees, Superintendent, and physicians. |
| |
| Racine
County Hospitals and Home (Wis.)
|
| Title: |
County Home inmates and deaths, 1927-1929 |
| Quantity: |
0.1 c.f. (1 volume)
|
| Arrangement: |
By type of list.
|
|
Lists of inmates, lists of friends
and relatives of inmates, and dates of inmates' deaths. |
| |
| Racine
County Hospitals and Home (Wis.)
|
| Title: |
Inmate records of the County
Hospital and Home, ca. 1918-1960
|
| Quantity: |
0.8 c.f. (3 card boxes)
|
| Arrangement: |
Alphabetical by surname.
|
|
Cards from ca. 1918-1947 showing
name of inmate, date admitted, name of judge who committed inmate,
reason for commitment, place of birth, religion, names of friends and
relatives, and comments. Cards from ca. 1948-1960 provide fewer details,
usually showing only name, admission date, birthdate, source of
financial support, and record of transfers |
| |
| Wisconsin,
Municipal Court (Racine County)
|
| Title: |
Record of commitments to the County Home, 1916-1946 |
| Quantity: |
0.8 c.f. (2 volumes)
|
|
Printed forms for use in commitment
to the County Home and showing name, disability, court appearances, and
court orders. Vol. 1 dates 1916-1933; Vol. 2, 1933-1946. |
| |
Note:
There are many, many more records of the Racine County Hospitals and
Home! Go search for yourself. |
| ROCK
|
| Rock
County (Wis.). Board of Supervisors.
|
| Title: |
Board proceedings, 1839-1971 |
| Quantity: |
5.0 c.f. (18
volumes) and
8 reels of microfilm (35mm); plus
unprocessed additions of security negatives.
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
| Notes: |
Records for 1948-1971 are
available only on microfilm.
The paper portion of this series is also on unprocessed security
microfilm.
The microfilm was produced by the Document Imaging Management
Center, 1997.
|
|
Proceedings of the County
Commissioners and Board of Supervisors including minutes of board
meetings, committee reports, reports of county officers and commissions,
financial reports, communications to the board, and other papers. There
is substantial material pertaining to the county poor farm and asylum,
the county's justice courts, the establishment of town governments,
school districts, road building, and tax assessment.
The processed microfilm is a positive print of some of the unprocessed
security reels. The remainder of the unprocessed security microfilm
duplicates the content of the processed 18 volumes. |
| ST. CROIX |
| St.
Croix County (Wis.). Clerk
|
| Title: |
Annual report of County Hospital & Home Trustees, 1904, 1909,
1920-1938, 1940-1948, 1950-1959 |
| Quantity: |
0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological.
|
|
Annual reports to the County Board
by the Board of Trustees of the County Hospital and County Home,
published by the County Clerk. Each report includes financial
statements, statement of movement of population, and narrative reports
of the Superintendent and the Physician. Included in the financial
statements is a summary of charges to the state, counties, and private
persons for care of inmates. The report for 1904 is included in
published County Board proceedings. |
| |
Note:
There are other records of the St. Croix County (Wis) Clerk! Go
search for yourself. |
WISCONSIN
(statewide) |
| Author/Creator: |
Wisconsin Division of Public Assistance |
| Title: |
County homes social data sheets. 1943-1944 |
| Quantity: |
1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes)
|
|
|
| Arrangement: |
Alphabetical by county.
|
|
Social data sheets on new
inmates admitted to county homes for the aged, indigent, and infirm
showing marital status, health conditions, date of birth, and economic
status. Data was prepared for a county home study. |
WISCONSIN
(statewide) |
| Author/Creator: |
Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Welfare. Bureau of Research and
Statistics. |
| Title: |
Monthly population of city and county homes, 1962-1963. |
| Quantity: |
1.0 c.f.
|
| Arrangement: |
Chronological and alphabetical
by institution thereunder.
|
| Notes: |
This series is unprocessed.
|
|
Monthly county home reports (Form
SR260) submitted by county homes and listing pertinent population
information including number of residents, number of admissions, number
of desks, and related information. The file also contains annual county
home reports (SR261) showing a summary breakdown of the characteristics
of county home residents. |
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HOME |