Collections 

The Massachusetts Archives holds the official records created by Massachusetts state government. Holdings are organized by agency and date from 1629 to the present.

Synopsis of Holdings

Full text copy for printing Summary Guide of Holdings (PDF,98k)

Records reflecting the structure of 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 (state: 1855, 1865, 1915, 1971, 1975; federal: Massachusetts, 1790-1900, Maine, 1790-1810); returns of town vital records (1841-1915; indexes to 1971); 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 - State loans, bonds, bounties, veterans' bonuses, military accounts. Troy and Greenfield and other railroad financial records.
  
• Attorney General records - Investigative files, opinions, victim witness program, charitable corporation filings. Also: State Ethics Commission designation lists
  
• Court records - Land Court registration decrees. Judicial Archives: Supreme Judicial Court and predecessors; Superior and district courts by county, including probate and naturalization 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 (PDF, 230k) document settlement of public lands in the District of Maine and its separation from Massachusetts as a state in 1820. Included are legal, survey, and financial records of the General Court, legislative commissions, and the Land Office.

Transcripts of the Archives of the Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691. Included are legislative, court, financial, and vital records; deeds and wills.

All the above contain 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 in the Massachusetts Archives Collection include 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.

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Records and Other Resources

Genealogy and Family History Resources

• Vital statistic records (Massachusetts births, deaths and marriages from 1841-1915)
  
• Census records
  
• Federal: Microfilm 1790-1880, 1890
  
• State: 1855, 1865
  
• Passenger Lists for the port of Boston, 1848-1891
  
• Military Records
  
• Probate records in the Probate and Divorce Judicial Court records
  
• Naturalization (citizenship) records
  
• Divorce records in the Probate and Divorce Judicial Court records
  
• Adoption records
  
• Documents about Native Americans
  
• Records from prisons and state institutions
  

For more information, please see Researching Your Family's History at the Massachusetts Archives.

Black History Resources

• Federal census schedules, 1790-1900
  
• State census schedules, 1855, 1865
  
• 1754 slave census
  
• 1771 town valuations (published in 1978)
  
• Passenger lists (occasional references on index cards)
  
• Vital statistic records
  
• Military records
  
• Massachusetts Archives Collection
  
• Passport/Travel permissions/Certificates for seamen (1815-1860; 1857)
  
• Guardians of Indians
  
• Returns of pauper lunatics and idiots (1842)
  
• Corrections and mental health records
  
• Judicial Court records

Vital Statistic Records

The Massachusetts Archives holds vital statistics, records of births, deaths and marriages in Massachusetts, for the years 1841 to 1915. The Archives has index books for the records. Each index volume includes five years, and names are sorted alphabetically within each five-year period.

The information found in vital records may include:

Birth records
Place and date of birth, name, residence, names, birthplaces, and occupations of parents.

Marriage records
Place and date of marriage, names, ages, residences, occupations, birthplaces, parents of bride and groom.

Death records
Place and date of death, residence, spouse, age, occupation and birthplace of deceased, cause of death and place of burial, name and birthplace of parents.

Certified copies of births, marriages and deaths from 1841 to1915 can be ordered in person or by mail. Please provide the name, date, and location for each event. A maximum of five certificates can be ordered at one time. Include a separate check, made out to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for $3 for each certificate requested. See duplication services for additional information about copies.

For vital records before 1841, original materials remain in the city or town clerk's office and can be found in the city or town hall. See the Massachusetts City and Town Directory for contact information.

For vital records after 1915, please contact:

Registry of Vital Records
Bureau of Health Statistics, Research and Evaluation
Department of Public Health
150 Mount Vernon St.
Dorchester, MA 02125
Phone: 617-740-2600
www.mass.gov/dph/rvr.htm

Passenger Lists

Massachusetts recorded the names of immigrants arriving in the Port of Boston between 1848 and 1891.
Records are accessed through a name index. Information includes name, age, sex, country of birth, last residence, and occupation of the immigrant. The name of the ship and the date of arrival are also listed.
Children may be listed separately or with other family members.

Military Records  

Colonial Period, 1643-1774
Records of militia units and military activities during King Philip's War and the French and Indian Wars. Records consist of military rolls, muster rolls, billeting accounts, etc.

Revolutionary Period, 1775-1787
Revolutionary rolls contain documents such as muster rolls, descriptive lists, receipts of supplies or money, lists of officers and lists of deserters. Continental Army Books consist of muster rolls of Massachusetts companies and receipts for supplies and money. The records of the Board of War, Commissary General, and Quartermaster General contain minutes, correspondence, blotters, cash books, journals, and ledgers, which detail the delivery of ordnance, provisions, and services to the military units. Pension records contain information on rank, unit, residence, and land or money bounty.

Shays' Rebellion, 1786-1787
Letters, orders, warrants, petitions, special reports, military payrolls, financial records, and oaths of allegiance.

War of 1812, 1812-1815
Research materials may be found in the records of the Governor and Executive Council, which contain letters, petitions, applications for commissions, and notices of elections of officers. Also militia payrolls, muster rolls, inspection rolls, and company rolls.

Civil War, 1861-1865
Muster, clothing, and descriptive rolls, lists of assignments of recruits totown quotas, correspondence from recruiters, substitution records. Useful collections include State Military Agent, Gardiner Tufts and Governor John Andrew's letterbooks (1861-1866).

Spanish-American War, 1889
Letters concerning petitions sent to the treasurer and receiver-general includes name of veteran, address, date and location of mustering in and out and other materials.

Additional materials for the Mexican, Civil, Spanish-American, and World Wars are located at:

Office of the Adjutant General, War Records Section
Saltonstall Building
100 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02202
Phone 617-727-2964

Court and Judicial Archives at the Massachusetts State Archives

The Judicial Archives, a separate and distinct institution holding permanent court records housed within the Massachusetts Archives was formed as a result of an agreement signed in April 1984 between then Chief Justice Edward Hennessey of the Supreme Judicial Court and then Secretary of the Commonwealth Michael Connolly. The purpose of this agreement was to set aside 12,000 cubic feet in the new state archives building, then under construction at Columbia Point, as an archive for the records of the judicial branch. This is a precedent setting arrangement and represents the first time the courts and another branch of government in Massachusetts have shared resources.

At present, the Judicial Archives contains the pre-1860 records of the predecessor courts of the Superior Court (Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Inferior Court of Common Pleas) for 9 counties. Other records in the Judicial Archives include Supreme Judicial Court and Superior Court of Judicature; predominantly pre-1900 probate records of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Plymouth, and Worcester counties; a limited number of County Court records; records of some Justices of the Peace, naturalization records and records of a small number of special courts. Probate, naturalization and divorce records are especially useful for those doing genealogical research.

As some collections of court records may still remain in original court houses, the public is encouraged to contact the Archives prior to beginning research utilizing court records. Service to researchers is provided by the Archives reference staff, while staff of the Supreme Judicial Court's Division of Archives and Records Preservation also provides reference assistance as well as consultation on special inquiries. Detailed inventories, finding aids and guides are available at the Archives. Please note that court records are not available on Saturdays except by appointment.

Requests for information involving court records held by the Massachusetts Archives should be sent by mail only to:

Elizabeth Bouvier
Head of Archives
Supreme Judicial Court Archives
16th Floor, Highrise Court House
3 Pemberton Square
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-557-1082

No return faxes; please include your name, mailing address and telephone number for a response.

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Agency List  

Records in the Massachusetts Archives are organized by creating agency. Records exist for: