Guide to the Polk Center Expense Receipts, 1903-1914, MSS 1181
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Polk Center Expense Receipts
- source
- Pennsylvania State Archives (PHMC) Permanent loan
- Creator
- Polk Center
- Collection Number
- MSS 1181
- Extent
- 21 Linear Feet 36 boxes
- Date
- 1903-1914
- Abstract
- Polk State Center (established as the State Institution for the Feeble-Minded of Western Pennsylvania) opened on September 23, 1897 in Polk, Pa., with James Moorhead Murdoch as its first superintendent. Polk Center was established by the state of Pennsylvania for "the reception, detention, care and training" of infants, children, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Polk Center's purpose was to provide an education for children with disabilities who were denied education in traditional schools, and then to provide a "home and suitable employment" for adults with disabilities who had graduated from school at Polk and were deemed unable to live and work outside Polk Center. The Polk Center Expense Receipts consist of receipts and payment vouchers documenting expenditures made by Polk Center from 1903 to 1914. These records provide detailed and valuable insights into daily life at Polk Center during its first two decades of operation.
- Language
- English .
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biographical / Historical
Polk State Center (established as the State Institution for the Feeble-Minded of Western Pennsylvania) opened on September 23, 1897 in Polk, Pa., with James Moorhead Murdoch as its first superintendent. Polk Center was established by the state of Pennsylvania for "the reception, detention, care and training" of infants, children, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Polk Center's original aim, as stated in its founding documents, was to provide a "suitable" education for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who were denied education in traditional schools, and then to provide a "home and suitable employment" for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who had graduated from school at Polk and were deemed unable to live and work outside Polk Center "without detriment to themselves or society."
Seeking a rural setting in accordance with the Act of Assembly to establish the institution, state-appointed commissioners chose to purchase 800 acres in Venango County, Pa. The buildings that comprised the Polk Center campus were constructed to support the housing, education, and medical care of its residents. Polk Center was largely self-sufficient, featuring its own farms, power and sewage plants, hospital, laundry facilities, and other services. Much of Polk Center's educational efforts focused on vocational and domestic skills training, with residents working without compensation alongside staff to operate the campus. Male residents worked in carpentry, tailoring, and shoemaking shops, and worked on Polk's expansive farmland. Female residents sewed and embroidered various home goods and worked in the kitchens and laundries. Young children's school lessons included traditional subjects, such as reading, writing, and math, interspersed with "industrial" lessons in the aforementioned areas, physical education, music and art classes, and the opportunity to "walk…and collect…specimens for nature study" outdoors. Some residents regularly assisted in the care of other residents without compensation. Residents were confined to the institution grounds and were not permitted to leave without permission from Polk Center staff. The first institution of its kind in Western Pennsylvania and the second in the entire Commonwealth, Polk Center initially opened its doors with a capacity for 800 residents. Over the years, Polk Center underwent numerous expansion and renovation projects as its population increased and overcrowding became a serious concern. By 1906, Dr. J.M. Murdoch noted that Polk Center's resident population had risen to 1,204. Dr. Murdoch stressed Polk Center's inability to keep up with the needs of such a rapidly growing population, stating that overcrowding "hampered the usefulness of the institution, [brought] discomfort to the inmates, and great inconvenience and hardship to the…employees." Dr. Murdoch noted the need not only for new residential buildings, but for additional farmland and farm buildings, a larger assembly hall and gymnasium, and expansions to Polk's industrial workshops and storage buildings. Therefore, a number of new buildings were constructed throughout the early twentieth century, including the high-capacity Lakeside Building and Gardenside Building for boys' and girls' dormitories, respectively, designed by architect F.J. Osterling.
In the 1950s, Polk Center reached its peak population with over 3,500 residents. In the early 1970s, grassroots advocates affiliated with ACC-PARC (later known as Achieva) discovered and exposed human rights violations and grossly inadequate living conditions of residents at Polk Center. These advocates (many of whom were mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities) witnessed the use of cages and restraints combined with the unsettling lack of educational programming that adversely impacted the daily lives of Polk residents. Noting other signs of improper care in addition to the overcrowded and understaffed conditions, these advocates alerted the Department of Public Welfare. The Department of Public Welfare called for the immediate resignation of the Polk Center's superintendent at the time, Dr. James H. McClelland, Jr. Dr. McClelland later successfully appealed this decision. This era prompted an improvement in resident care, including the termination of the use of cages. Simultaneously, the Department of Public Welfare began transitioning residents from the overcrowded Polk Center into community living arrangements such as group homes. These efforts reflected a shift in Pennsylvania's approach to supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in community-based settings rather than institutions.
The name of the institution was changed to Polk Center in 1970, as the campus population began to decline. In 2019, the Department of Human Services announced plans to close Polk Center within three years. In 2020, the Department clarified that Polk Center was slated for closure by 2023. As of 2021, Polk Center is still in operation as an Intermediate Care Facility for disabled adults, with a population of approximately 190 residents.
Scope and Contents
The Polk Center Expense Receipts consist of receipts and payment vouchers documenting expenditures made by Polk Center from 1903 to 1914. Arranged in chronological order, these records provide a comprehensive and extremely detailed picture of daily expenditures made by Polk Center during its first decade of operation. As a result, these records can be utilized to perform an in-depth analysis of how the institution used state-allocated funds as it grew beyond capacity.
These records can also be utilized to get specific insights into the daily lives of residents. Many detailed records can be found on the itemized receipts provided by the vendors, such as: the types of drugs stocked by the hospital, the types of food eaten, the specific books and magazines purchased by different departments of Polk Center. Insight into the residents' recreational activities can be gleaned from the purchase of items like baseball equipment, tickets for the State Fair each year, school band instruments, costumes for school plays, and Christmas decorations. Patterns of purchases can also provide a clear picture of changing conditions from month to month and year to year; for example, more food was purchased in the winter months than the summer months, as Polk Center residents labored without compensation to produce more of its own food in warmer weather conditions.
Additionally, more large building projects were commissioned, constructed, and furnished each year, as the population continued to rise. Evidence of overcrowding affecting the lives of residents at Polk Center can be found in the receipts. For example, a receipt and payment voucher from 1906 document reimbursement made to assistant superintendent William W. Mills for the "return of a runaway boy from Baltimore." Furthermore, insights into the size and compensation patterns of institutional staff can also be gleaned from this collection.
Each record includes a payment voucher that lists the description of purchase, the name of the vendor, amount spent, and one of several pre-determined purchase categories (such as groceries, fuel, furniture, painting, repairs, educational supplies, farm supplies, medical supplies, wages, and salaries). Each record also includes the original itemized receipt from the external vendor, most of which are on company letterhead.
Typically listed at the end of each month are staff salaries and wages, trustees' traveling expenses, miscellaneous petty expenses, and freight fees. Also well-documented are the costs associated with various non-typical special appropriations, such as the construction and furnishing of new buildings and the purchase of additional farmland.
The detailed information found in these receipts far eclipses summaries available in published sources such as annual reports.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Copyright may be retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transfer from Pennsylvania State Archives in 2018. Archives accession 2018.0186.
Related Materials
Polk Center Records, Record Group 23, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
Related Materials
Bob Nelkin Collection of Allegheny County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (ACC-PARC) Records, 1953-2000, MSS 1002, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
Pat Clapp Papers and Photographs, 1947-2015, MSS 1196, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
Michener, Carolee K. and Dennis L. Armstrong. Polk Center, 90 Years: A Pictorial History of Polk Center in Polk, Pennsylvania. 1987 RC445 .P4 P762 f, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives Center, Senator John Heinz History Center.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Emily Dahlin in 2018.
Preferred Citation
Polk Center Expense Receipts, 1903-1914, MSS 1181, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.
Subjects
- Pennsylvania State Archives (PHMC) Permanent loan
- Polk Center (Pa.)
- H. J. Heinz Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.
- Joseph Horne Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Logan Gregg Hardware Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Allegheny County (Pa.)
- Franklin County (Pa.)
- Venango County (Pa.)
- Polk (Pa.)
- Franklin (Pa.)
- Oil City (Pa.)
- Social service -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Social welfare--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- Disabilities -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- People with disabilities--Abuse of--Pennsylvania
- Medical care -- Pennsylvania -- Polk
- Education -- Pennsylvania -- Polk
- Residential Treatment for children & youth -- Pennsylvania -- Polk
- Occupational training -- Pennslyvania -- Polk
- Schools -- Pennsylvania -- Polk