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Public Records

Guidelines to Assist Persons Seeking Access to the Secretary's Public Records

Every person has a right to access public information. This is established in The Massachusetts Public Records Law (M.G.L. Chapter 66 & Chapter 4, Section 7(26)).

In order to assist members of the public with accessing public records in the custody of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth (Office), the following guidelines are provided.

The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth has custody of certain public records. To assist members of the public, we provide the following guidelines.

Requests for public records should be directed to the Office's Records Access Officer. The Records Access Officer can be contacted at:

Sofya Gray
Records Access Officer
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
One Ashburton Place - Room 1711
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-878-3660
Fax: 617-742-4538
Email:

It’s best to submit a public records request in writing. This ensures the Office accurately and completely responds to your request.

A request for public records should include a reasonable description of specific records being requested.

The Office can assess a reasonable fee for the production of public records.

The public records maintained by the Office include, but are not limited to, records contained within the following areas of the Office:

  • Public Records Division
  • Elections Division
  • Corporations Division
  • Securities Division
  • Lobbyist Division
  • Massachusetts Archives
  • Massachusetts Historical Commission
  • State Publications and Regulations Division

The Office maintains a searchable website, where public records are available for public inspection and copying. In addition, certain Divisions, such as the Public Records Division, Lobbyist Division, Corporations Division, Elections Division, and the Securities Division contain a variety of records available to the public.

Requests for land records from Registries of Deeds should be made directly to the applicable Registry. Information pertaining to the Registries can be found here.