We would like to invite you to re-visit our website, The POORHOUSE STORY (a clearinghouse for information about 19th century American poorhouses) at http://www.poorhousestory.com We just posted a portion of a 1904 federal government report which summarizes the poor laws in every state. On the PENNSYLVANIA page we have copied the excerpt for just your state. It is interesting to see how the laws varied from state to state. And understanding which state or county agency had administrative responsiblity over poorhouses may help you locate local poorhouse records more easily. DIRECTIONS: At the homepage (link above) click on POORHOUSES BY STATE, then on PENNSYLVANIA on the table of states. If you have been to the website recently you may have to click REFRESH or RELOAD on the browser to see the new information. You will find the link to this excerpt near the top of the page in a section titled HISTORY and marked with a big yellow NEW arrow. There are other pages on the site which may give you some interesting perspective on poorhouses. They are off the homepage and include: the HISTORY page and the LETTER TO GENEALOGISTS as well as FEATURED ARTICLES. There are great tips for researching poorhouse records for yourself on the RECORDS page; and you might want to subscribe to our (almost) monthly newletter (which you can do in the lower right corner of the homepage). The information on our site will only grow through the submissions of generous readers. If you would like to e-mail me ... please do so off-list because I cannot maintain subscriptions to as many lists as we post messages on. (You can use an e-mail link off one of our web pages.) We hope you enjoy the site! Thanks, Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady)