The Pineland Center opened in the early 1900s as the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. It was renamed several times through the years as the Maine Home for the Feeble-Minded, Pownal State School, Pineland Hospital and Training Center, and finally Pineland Center. Although the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the 1970s alleging abuse of patients, the Pineland Center did not close until 1996.

These records reflect the treatment practices and terminology of the time. Some of the language and treatments are not considered acceptable today and may be uncomfortable for some readers. Recognizing that historical medical terms do not always completely or directly map to contemporary terms, that historical terms can be offensive or inaccurately characterize a condition, and that the presence of both historical and contemporary terms may be useful for researcher discovery, archivists have attempted to employ contemporary terms as they appear in the context of the collection in the description where possible.