Connecticut State Library with state seal

Brief Descriptions of Connecticut State Agencies

Department of Social Services

Agency Web page | Statutory Authority |Agency History |
Published histories/articles | State Library Collections | List of Commissioners

Agency Web page

Statutory Authority :
CGS Title 17b.

Agency History :

1873, State Board of Charities established, per Public Acts chpt. XLV.

1919, Name changed to Commission on Public Welfare, per Public Acts chpt. 307.

1921, Name changed to Department of Public Welfare, per Public Acts chpt. 307.

1935, Name changed to Public Welfare Council per January 1935 Cum Suppl sec. 710c.

1935, Office of the Commissioner of Public Welfare established per 1935 Cum. Suppl. sec. 670c.

1953, Names changed to State Welfare Department and the Welfare Commissioner , per P.A. 451.

1975, Name changed to Department of Social Services, per P.A. 75-420.

1979, Per P.A. 77-614, Social Services split in two : The direct successor agency is the Department of Income Maintenance, which retains the same Commissioner and Statutory authority as Social Services. The other is the Department of Human Resources.

1993, Per P.A. 93-262, Department of Social Services reformed by merger of :

Department of Income Maintenance.

Department of Human Resources

Department on Aging

Published histories/articles of the agency :
Armstead, George B. The State Services of Connecticut. Published under the direction of the Committee on Public Information and the House Committee on Publications of the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut. 1946. pp. 135-140. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc G25 ar]

Agency Documents and Records in the State Library Collections :

Check the State Library catalog, CONSULS, under these author headings for publications by the agency available in the State Library :

State Archives Record Group : RG 019

Annual Reports are located in :

Agency years:

Agency name

Call number

1881-1917

State Board of Charities

Conn Doc P964

1919

Commission of Public Welfare

Conn Doc P963

1921-1935

Dept. of Public Welfare

Conn Doc P964

1935-1945

Commissioner of Welfare and the Public Welfare Council

Conn Doc P964re

1948-1952

Public Welfare Council

Conn Doc P964

1953-1974

State Welfare Department

Conn Doc So25 rep

1975-1979

Department of Social Services

Conn Doc So25 rep

1979-1993

Department of Income Maintenance

Conn Doc So25 rep

1979-1993

Department of Human Resources

Conn Doc H886 anre

1993-

Department of Social Services

Conn Doc So25 rep

1994-

Department of Social Services

Agency Web site

 

Also in :  Digest of Administrative Reports to the Governor. [CSL Call Number ConnDoc F40 d] and 2002-, the online version


List of Agency Heads :

Name

Years Served

Benjamin Stark

Sept. 18, 1873-March 27, 1879

Levi Ives

Sept. 18, 1873-May 1, 1875

Samuel F. Jones

Sept. 18, 1873-March 27, 1879

Miss Lucy Alsop

Sept. 18, 1873-1878

Mrs. Marie Pettee

Sept. 18, 1873-Aug. 7, 1874

H.W. Buell

May 1, 1875-March 27, 1879

Mrs. G.A. Hoyt

1878

Willis R. Austin

March 18, 1881-1883

S. Rutledge McNary

March 18, 1881-1883

Wm. H. Hotchkiss

March 18, 1881-1883

Mrs. Augusta C. Pease

March 18, 1881-1882

Miss Hannah L. Ripley

March 18, 1881-1882

Mrs. Virginia T. Smith

July 17, 1882-1882

Harlow P. Harris

April 18, 1883-

James Gallagher

April 18, 1883-July 1, 1891

Henry E. Burton

April 18, 1883-July 1, 1889

Mrs. Virginia T. Smith

April 18, 1883-July 1, 1893

Mrs. Francis Bacon

April 18, 1883-July 1, 1893

Leverette W. Wessels

Nov. 3, 1885-July 1, 1891

George H. Wood

July 1, 1889-July 1, 1893

Andrew W. Tracy

July 1, 1893-July 1, 1897

Herman C. Whittlesey

July 1, 1893-July 1, 1899

George F. Spencer

July 1, 1893-July 1, 1903

Miss Mary Hall

July 1, 1893-July 1, 1905

Miss Rebekah G. Bacon

July 1, 1893-July 1, 1909

Henry H. Bridgman

July 1, 1899-July 1, 1907

Thomas F. Kane, M.D.

July 1, 1903-July 1, 1915

Miss Anna C. Walter

July 1, 1909-July 1, 1917

Justin B. Holman

July 1, 1907-July 1, 1919

Stanley W. Edwards

July 1, 1919-July 7, 1919

Edwin A. Down, M.D.

July 1, 1897-Dec. 22, 1919

Robert H. Fife

July 1, 1915-Sept. 27, 1920

Mary A. Wise

July 1, 1917-July 1, 1925

Eliot Watrous

July 7, 1919-March 2, 1926

Martha H.C. Mitchell

July 1, 1905-

G.C.F. Williams, M.D.

Dec. 22, 1919-Nov. 13, 1933

Walter H. Clark

Sept. 27, 1920-

Harriet I. Jones

July 1, 1925-July 1, 1933

James T. Moran

Apr. 22, 1926-March 23, 1936

Ethel C. Dunham, M.D.

July 1, 1933-Jan. 1935

Maurice R. Davie

May 12, 1936-

Alice M. Higgins

June 4, 1932-July 1, 1933

Stanley P. Mead

Aug. 12, 1936-

Dwight L. Chamberlain

April 30, 1943-

Louise D. Duffy

July 1, 1933-

Robert J. Hodge

  

William W.T. Squire

  

Austin D. Barney

Dec. 5, 1933-

Louise H. Fisher

Jan. 23, 1935-

Rev. Charles B. Ratajczak

July 1, 1943-

Frances H. Haight

July 1, 1945-July 1, 1951

Walter Howe

Jan. 19, 1948-July 1, 1951

Viola B. Amelung

July 1, 1951-July 1, 1953

Paul Butterworth

July 1, 1951-July 1, 1953

F.C. Walcott

1935-

Robert J. Smith

-1952

Howard E. Houston

1952-Dec. 23, 1954

Catherine M. Dunn (Acting)

Dec. 23, 1954-March 1, 1955

Christy Hanas

March 1, 1955-1959

Bernard Shapiro

June 30, 1959-1969

Henry C. White

1969-1972

Nicholas Norton

1972-1974

Edward W. Maher

1974-1982

Ronald E. Manning

Jan. 1, 1979-1982

Stephen B. Heintz

1982-1988

James G. Harris, Jr.

1982-1986

Lorraine M. Aronson

1988-1990

Elliott A. Ginsberg

1986-1990

Audrey Rowe

July 1, 1993-August 1994

Patricia Giardi (Acting)

August 1994-1995
Jon M. Alander  

Joyce A. Thomas

1995-Dec. 24, 1998

Valerie R. Marino (Acting)

Dec. 25, 1998-1999

Patricia A. Wilson-Coker, J.D., M.S.W.

1999-Feb. 1, 2007
Michael P. Starkowski (Acting) Jan. 8-March 7, 2007
Michael P. Starkowski March 7, 2007-Present

Prepared by the Government Information and Reference Services Unit, page revised 8/2008.