Twenty-Two (22) Annual Reports of the Trustees of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, 1857-1879

Boston, Massachusetts: William White, Printer to the State, 1879. Very good. Minor flaws include toning, sunning, chipping, dust soiling, offsetting, minor short tears. Final report possibly lacking wrappers.. A large run of twenty-two (22) Annual Reports of the Trustees of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, ranging in date from 1857 to 1879. Includes nos. 1-4, 6-14, 16-23, and 26. The Lancaster Industrial School for Girls was the first school for delinquent girls in Massachusetts dedicated to reform and rehabilitation rather than incarceration and punishment. The first annual report provides a good example of the kinds of content in all of the reports; it includes the following: a general overview of the school's aims, as well as information on expenses and inventory; age and demographics; discipline and behavior management; descriptions of other similar reform institutions with similar aims; and a "Farmer's Report" reporting on the state of the school's farm. Among the demographic groups mentioned are: Irish, Scotch, Italian, French, white, and "colored" children; includes stats on which students are literate, lack parents, and attended Sabbath School. A valuable resource for researching reform schools for and juvenile crime among girls in Massachusetts in the second half of the 19th century. Each report is a single vol. measuring approx. 9.25" by 5.75", with approx. 28 pp. At least one has a frontispiece (most do not). Ink inscriptions of previous owners on a couple of the reports: "Elizabeth C. Putnam", "Town of Sutton", and "Rev. A. Hill, D.D.