Meriden Boys’ Home & School
This collection centers on the Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School. “Boys’ home” can also refer to the Curtis Home; its photographs and history are explicitly labeled separately. Individual children’s death certificates and a complete named burial register have not been obtained.

id: MB-001
title: Cottage A, Connecticut School for Boys
kind: Photographs
date: Published 1900; exposure date unknown
summary: Cottage A at the Connecticut School for Boys, pictured in the school’s 1900 annual report.
url: https://archive.org/details/publicdocumentso0033conn/page/n328/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys, Board of Trustees; photographer unidentified; Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys, for the Year Ended September 30, 1900; State of Connecticut Public Document No. 11, bound in Public Documents, 1900, v.3, pt.3. Unnumbered plate between pp.16–17. University of Connecticut Libraries copy; Internet Archive; digitizing sponsor LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
notes:  Published in 1900 in the United States; corresponding Internet Archive Book Images copies on Wikimedia Commons are marked No known copyright restrictions. This work uses original IA page scans rather than Commons derivatives. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/csb-cottage-a-1900.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-002
title: Cottage C, Connecticut School for Boys
kind: Photographs
date: Published 1900; exposure date unknown
summary: Cottage C at the Connecticut School for Boys, pictured in the school’s 1900 annual report.
url: https://archive.org/details/publicdocumentso0033conn/page/n345/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys, Board of Trustees; photographer unidentified; Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys, for the Year Ended September 30, 1900; State of Connecticut Public Document No. 11, bound in Public Documents, 1900, v.3, pt.3. Unnumbered plate following p.28. University of Connecticut Libraries copy; Internet Archive; digitizing sponsor LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
notes:  Published in 1900 in the United States; corresponding Internet Archive Book Images copies on Wikimedia Commons are marked No known copyright restrictions. This work uses original IA page scans rather than Commons derivatives. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/csb-cottage-c-1900.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-003
title: Cottage D, Connecticut School for Boys
kind: Photographs
date: Published 1900; exposure date unknown
summary: Cottage D at the Connecticut School for Boys, pictured in the school’s 1900 annual report.
url: https://archive.org/details/publicdocumentso0033conn/page/n351/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys, Board of Trustees; photographer unidentified; Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys, for the Year Ended September 30, 1900; State of Connecticut Public Document No. 11, bound in Public Documents, 1900, v.3, pt.3. Unnumbered plate between pp.32–33. University of Connecticut Libraries copy; Internet Archive; digitizing sponsor LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
notes:  Published in 1900 in the United States; corresponding Internet Archive Book Images copies on Wikimedia Commons are marked No known copyright restrictions. This work uses original IA page scans rather than Commons derivatives. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration. Orientation corrected September 8, 2026 using EXIF metadata; original compressed image data retained without alteration.
file: images/csb-cottage-d-1900.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-004
title: State Reform School, illustration labeled 1854
kind: Illustrations
date: Depicts 1854; reproduced 1912
summary: An illustration labeled “Connecticut State Reform School, 1854,” reproduced in the school’s 1912 collected reports.
url: https://archive.org/details/reportsboardstr00conngoog/page/n10/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys (Meriden, Connecticut); compiled by Fred E. Tucker under Charles M. Williams; Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden, Conn., Volume III. Unnumbered frontispiece. University of California copy; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: This is an illustration, not a photograph. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT, US; 1912 publication. Scans retain the Google attribution watermark. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration. Orientation corrected September 8, 2026 using EXIF metadata; original compressed image data retained without alteration.
file: images/csb-state-reform-school-1854-illustration.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-005
title: Front view of Connecticut School for Boys
kind: Illustrations
date: Published 1906
summary: Front view of the Connecticut School for Boys, an illustration published in A Century of Meriden in 1906.
url: https://archive.org/details/historicrecordpi00gill/page/n526/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it (A Century of Meriden), volume II. Volume II, p.67. Library of Congress copy; Internet Archive
notes: The same composition is reproduced in the 1912 reports under a 1912 caption. Do not present it as a photograph taken in 1912. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT; 1906 US publication. Photographers and engraving artists are uncredited on selected pages. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration. Orientation corrected September 8, 2026 using EXIF metadata; original compressed image data retained without alteration.
file: images/csb-campus-1906-illustration.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-006
title: Physician’s report on three deaths, 1895–1896
kind: Death & burial evidence
date: Reporting year 1895–1896; reprinted 1912
summary: The 1896 physician’s report records three deaths: scarlet fever, drowning, and apparent heart trouble. It gives no names.
url: https://archive.org/details/reportsboardstr00conngoog/page/n81/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys (Meriden, Connecticut); compiled by Fred E. Tucker under Charles M. Williams; Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden, Conn., Volume III. p.355. University of California copy; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: The adjoining p.356 identifies the hospital accounting period as October 1895 to October 1896. This is not a death certificate, named death list, burial record, or lifetime death total. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT, US; 1912 publication. Scans retain the Google attribution watermark. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/csb-mortality-1896-p355.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-007
title: Harold A. Meeks’s physician report, 1910–1912
kind: Death & burial evidence
date: Two fiscal years ending September 30, 1912
summary: Harold A. Meeks reports two deaths from endocarditis during the two fiscal years ending September 30, 1912.
url: https://archive.org/details/reportsboardstr00conngoog/page/n487/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys (Meriden, Connecticut); compiled by Fred E. Tucker under Charles M. Williams; Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden, Conn., Volume III. p.863 (number not printed on section-opening page). University of California copy; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: No child names or burial places are given. Do not relabel the two-year figure as an annual or lifetime total. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT, US; 1912 publication. Scans retain the Google attribution watermark. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/csb-mortality-1912-p863.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-008
title: Report stating the school opened March 1, 1854
kind: Historical records
date: 1909-era report; reprinted 1912
summary: The school’s report states that it opened for pupils on March 1, 1854.
url: https://archive.org/details/reportsboardstr00conngoog/page/n391/mode/1up
credit: Connecticut School for Boys (Meriden, Connecticut); compiled by Fred E. Tucker under Charles M. Williams; Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden, Conn., Volume III. p.767. University of California copy; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: This is distinct from legislative establishment in 1851 and construction dates. The page’s 7,918 admissions figure is report-specific, not a lifetime total. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT, US; 1912 publication. Scans retain the Google attribution watermark. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/csb-opening-history-p767.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys / State Reform School
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-009
title: Curtis Home, Children’s Building
kind: Photographs
date: Published 1906; exposure date unknown
summary: The Curtis Home’s Children’s Building in a photograph published in 1906. The accompanying history dates its dedication to June 28, 1884.
url: https://archive.org/details/historicrecordpi00gill/page/n515/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it (A Century of Meriden), volume II. Volume II, p.56. Library of Congress copy; Internet Archive
notes: Curtis Home is a separate institution from the Connecticut School for Boys. Dedication citation is volume II p.53, reader n512 / scan leaf513. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT; 1906 US publication. Photographers and engraving artists are uncredited on selected pages. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/curtis-home-childrens-building-1906-p56.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Curtis Home
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-010
title: Curtis Home, elderly women’s building
kind: Photographs
date: Published 1906; exposure date unknown
summary: The Curtis Home’s building for elderly women, labeled “Old Ladies’ Building” in the 1906 source.
url: https://archive.org/details/historicrecordpi00gill/page/n516/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it (A Century of Meriden), volume II. Volume II, p.57. Library of Congress copy; Internet Archive
notes: This photograph depicts the elderly women’s building, not the children’s building. Accompanying history p.58 says it formally opened in 1896. Internet Archive metadata: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT; 1906 US publication. Photographers and engraving artists are uncredited on selected pages. Full scan retained; resized and JPEG compressed. Landscape plates rotated 90 degrees to reading orientation. No generative alteration.
file: images/curtis-home-elderly-building-1906-p57.jpg
text_file: 
institution: Curtis Home
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-011
title: Combining Archival and Archeological Research: The Connecticut School for Boys Cemetery
kind: Death & burial evidence
date: 1996
summary: Gregory F. Walwer’s 1996 cemetery study separates deaths at the Connecticut School for Boys from burials on its grounds. State reports counted 121 deaths by 1940; researchers independently confirmed 86 people as having died at the school. They substantiated 23 on-site burials and 24 burials elsewhere, leaving 39 burial locations unresolved. Another 21 names from initial lists lacked a verified school connection. The author estimated 50–60 burials on the property and reported that the planned hospital preserved the cemetery area. These figures describe different bodies of evidence, not a single interchangeable death total. The study used Meriden death indexes, certificates provided by the Connecticut Office of State Archaeology, an 1899 superintendent’s ledger, and the Hale headstone index. No named death list or individual certificate is reproduced in the article.
url: https://archive.org/details/doi-report_1-2986-219-10
credit: Gregory F. Walwer; National Park Service, CRM, volume 19 no.10, pages 8–11
notes: External article. No individual certificate or named child roster is reproduced. Full article not copied; guest-author reuse rights unconfirmed.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-012
title: Reports of the Board of Trustees, volume III (printed 1912)
kind: Historical records
date: Reports through 1912; volume printed 1912
summary: Search the complete source-provided OCR of this collected volume. The physician reports, school accounts and administrative narrative provide leads for further research. OCR may misread names and dates; confirm each finding in the repository scan.
url: https://archive.org/details/reportsboardstr00conngoog
credit: Connecticut School for Boys (Meriden, Connecticut); compiled by Fred E. Tucker under Charles M. Williams; University of California / Google / Internet Archive
notes: The Internet Archive catalog year is misleading; the inspected title page says 1912. Full PDF is available at the original repository. Public domain in the United States.
file: 
text_file: school-reports-1912.txt
institution: Connecticut School for Boys
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-013
title: School established by the legislature
kind: Historical records
date: 1851; building completed 1853; history published 1906
summary: The city history describes the legislative establishment of the State Reform School in 1851 and completion of its building two years later. The school’s own later report dates its opening to March 1, 1854.
url: https://archive.org/details/historicrecordpi00gill/page/n523/mode/1up
credit: Gillespie and Curtis, A Century of Meriden (1906), volume II, p.64; Library of Congress / Internet Archive
notes: Historical book page linked; separate establishment, construction and admission dates.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-014
title: The Curtis Home dedication
kind: Historical records
date: June 28, 1884; history published 1906
summary: A separate Meriden charity founded by Lemuel J. Curtis, the Curtis Home was dedicated on June 28, 1884. The book illustrates separate buildings for children and elderly women. Its residents must not be added to the School for Boys death totals.
url: https://archive.org/details/historicrecordpi00gill/page/n512/mode/1up
credit: Gillespie and Curtis, A Century of Meriden (1906), volume II, p.53; Library of Congress / Internet Archive
notes: Distinct institution. Modern successor: https://www.thecurtishome.org/about-us . No Curtis Home child death register obtained.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Curtis Home — separate institution
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-015
title: Original death certificates and school burial records
kind: Records to request
date: Not obtained
summary: The 1996 study identifies certificate copies supplied by the Connecticut Office of State Archaeology, Meriden death indexes and an 1899 superintendent’s ledger as research sources. Ask the relevant custodians about access and surviving records.
url: https://cslarchives.ctstatelibrary.org/
credit: Connecticut State Archives; archival research lead from Gregory F. Walwer (1996)
notes: No request has been sent. The existence of a cited historical source does not establish present access or completeness. No restricted ledger copied.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Connecticut School for Boys
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MB-016
title: Meriden city death-index research
kind: Records to request
date: State index coverage as supplied
summary: Search the separate Meriden death index already held by SGC. A matching name is a lead: the citywide index does not identify the school, a cemetery, or a burial plot.
url: https://ctcemeterycollective.org/collections/west-cemetery?tab=deaths
credit: Connecticut death-index reference data in SGC’s Meriden collection
notes: Keep school affiliation and place of burial unverified until an original entry or certificate supplies them.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Meriden citywide index
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: ED-H2-HT-SP-045
title: Main building postcard mailed in 1910
kind: Postcards
date: 1910 postal year; exposure date unknown
institution: Meriden Boys’ Home & School
summary: A colored postcard presents the Connecticut School for Boys main building and landscaped grounds; the catalog gives a 1910 postal date.
url: https://www.oldpostcards.com/uspostcards/connecticut/meriden-ct_m_0112-connecticut-school-for-boys.html
credit: Publisher/photographer not established / OldPostcards.com dealer record, SKU ct_m_0112
notes: Available at the linked repository; image or full record is not included in this download. Visually inspected. Preserve watermark if ever permissioned; do not confuse with Curtis Home. Reuse: Rights review: underlying pre-1931 postcard likely public domain in US; dealer's reproduction is watermarked and no open file license verified. Link only.
file: 
text_file: 
accessed: 2026-09-12
license_url: 
external_image_url: https://www.oldpostcards.com/media/uspostcards/ecom/prodlg/CT-M/ct_m_0112.jpg
document_file: 

id: ED-H2-HT-SP-046
title: Contemporary newspaper report of a school investigation
kind: Photographs
date: 1930-05-15
institution: Meriden Boys’ Home & School
summary: A May 15, 1930 newspaper report discusses an investigation into alleged brutality at the Connecticut School for Boys. It documents contemporary scrutiny, rather than establishing the investigation's eventual findings.
url: https://cdn.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester%20Evening%20Hearld_1930-05-15.pdf
credit: Associated Press report; Manchester Evening Herald / Manchester Historical Society newspaper archive
notes: Available at the linked repository; image or full record is not included in this download. Primary scan text indexed and verified; direct PDF returned403 in current web tool. Exact page/crop still needed. Treat as link-only scan candidate until visual page verification. Reuse: Underlying 1930 US newspaper publication public domain by age; no additional archive reuse statement verified.
file: 
text_file: 
accessed: 2026-09-12
license_url: 
external_image_url: https://cdn.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester%20Evening%20Hearld_1930-05-15.pdf
document_file: 