page_title: Massachusetts Archives
section_title: Holdings
hierarchical_section_title: Massachusetts Archives / Holdings
caption_attribution_description: Paul Revere's bill for riding, 1775. Document exhibited in the Commonwealth Museum, in the Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
context_page_description: The Massachusetts Archives is the state archive of Massachusetts. It "serves the Commonwealth and its citizens by preserving and making accessible the records documenting government action and by assisting government agencies in managing their permanent records." The archives occupies quarters on the Columbia Point peninsula in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. For fiscal year 2010 the state budgeted $389,815 to the archives. The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth bears responsibility for its administration.
  In addition to "the official records created by Massachusetts state government," the archives "counts among its treasures the state’s own copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, the ... 1629 charter [of Massachusetts Bay], and Revolutionary and Civil War records. It also has numerous documents signed by the likes of George Washington, John Adams, and John Hancock, as well as treaties made with Native American tribes, and slave and witchcraft records.
context_section_description: As of 2010, the archives' voluminous holdings range throughout the history of Massachusetts:
  Records reflecting the structure of Massachusetts state government:
  "Foundation documents: Colonial charters, treaties, compacts, and agreements with Indian tribes and with other states. Proceedings of state constitutional conventions. Constitution of 1780 and amendments. State legal codes."
  "Legislative records: Files of the colonial General Court (1629-1780), the Provincial Congress (1774-1775), and the state General Court (1780-present): Petitions, orders, reports, messages, bills. Unenacted legislation and enacted statutes and resolves. House and Senate dockets, roll calls, and journals. Committee and legislative commission hearing and background files."
  "State secretary records: Administrative files; initiative and referendum petitions; state and national election returns; state regulation files and register; lobbyist registrations; municipal home rule charters and acceptances of local option statutes; notices of appointment, lists, and qualifications (oaths of office) of state and local officials; census registers and returns; ... returns of names changed in probate court. Corporate articles of organization (prior to 1851 see legislative records)."
  Executive records: Governor (1802–present); Council; Administration and Finance; Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation; Economic Development and Manpower Affairs/Labor; Education; Environmental Affairs; Health and Human Services; Public Safety/Adjutant General; Transportation and Construction; Treasurer records; Attorney General records; Court records.
  Special colonial and early state materials to 1800:
  "328-volume Massachusetts Archives Collection which contains colonial, provincial, and Revolutionary records."
  "The Eastern Lands papers document settlement of public lands in the District of Maine and its separation from Massachusetts as a state in 1820."
  "Transcripts of the Archives of the Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691. Included are legislative, court, financial, and vital records; deeds and wills."
  "Documents relating to Indian affairs, including military, trading, and census records. The Archives also holds 19th-century records of the Guardians of Indians."
  "Witchcraft records: ... depositions, examinations, warrants, and other court documents."
  Other historical resource files:
  "Massachusetts Historical Commission: compliance files of historic sites and structures in Massachusetts listed in the National Register of Historic Places and related tax certification program files."
  "Work Projects/Works Progress Administrations' Massachusetts Historical Records Survey (1936-1942), American Portraits Survey, and Black Historical Records Survey."
  Nontextual materials:
  "Photographs: Senate presidents, House speakers, governors. Activities and buildings of state institutions. Massachusetts boundary markers. Public works and harbor and river projects. Aerial survey mapping; waterworks and sewer construction; parks engineering; reservations and facilities. Boston Harbor dredging and pier construction."
  "Maps and plans: Eastern Lands (Maine, 17th-18th centuries); early state, national, and continental maps; maps and plans deposited with the state secretary; parks engineering; waterways; state planning land use maps; state aid highway construction maps; town plans (1794, 1830); building inspection plans; mental hospital, correctional facility building plans."
  "Paintings: New England birds by L.A. Fuertes."
  "Audio-visuals: Press conferences, public service announcements, hearings, interviews, and public relations materials."
  "Local records: Vital records, charters, valuation lists, the debtors/criminal calendars of the Suffolk County (Charles Street) Jail, case files of the Middlesex County Training School, and files of the Boston Housing Authority."
  "Private records: Personal papers of governors Oliver Ames and Eugene Foss; miscellaneous military documents; architectural plans; and photographs relating to wars and other historical events, and of state officials and institutions."
caption: Paul Revere's bill for riding, 1775
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