Scope and Content: Successive committees of the House of Representatives were appointed to receive, examine, and pass upon accounts submitted for payment for purchases and services approved by the Revolutionary Massachusetts General Court.  From 1780, a joint standing committee of both houses of the Constitutional General Court (by at least 1782 known as the Committee on Accounts) performed the same function.  Approved accounts were forwarded to the Council (for concurrence as of 1776), which issued warrants for payment by the Treasury.  From 1786 (Resolves 1786, Sept Sess, c 128) examined accounts were submitted by the committee in the form of rolls to the General Court, which approved them by a resolve and forwarded them to the Council.  Resolves 1792, May Sess, c 15 instructed that the accounts in these rolls be arranged for support of the state poor alphabetically by town, and for militia accounts by division, and that the data be additionally recorded in a book for legislative reference.  Series records data (payee, expense detail, date, amount) for rolls 23-30 (1792-1794), and summaries only, by expense type (state poor, militia, miscellaneous, printers, sheriffs) for rolls 31-84 (1795-1821).
Arrangement: Arranged by roll (i.e. chronologically)
Notes: Fly-leaf title: “Accounts which are allowed by the Committee on Accounts are entered in this book agreeably to a Resolve of the General Court of 12 June 1792.”
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Scope and Content: During the Revolutionary War, families of Continental Army soldiers in Massachusetts lacked money to pay for supplies sold at rapidly inflating prices.  To assist them, Resolves 1777-78, c 406 (Oct. 10, 1777) provided that towns must provide supplies to the families of noncommissioned officers and privates at rates set by the act “to prevent monopoly and oppression” (St 1776-77, c 14, Jan. 25, 1777)–except in cases where soldiers had received sufficient bounty payments to afford the extra cost–for a period of three years or for the duration of the war, as chosen by soldier at enlistment.  Resolves 1778-79, c 446 (Feb. 6, 1779) directed towns to keep exact accounts of supplies distributed in order to be reimbursed by the state, which would in turn receive settlement from the soldiers for amounts charged to them, when service pay was received (see: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Certificates of payment for the Continental Army ((M-Ar)58X)) –Resolves 1779-80, c 67 (June 8, 1779) provided for a system of recording the accounts, which were to be sent to the General Court.  Examination of the accounts was done in the House of Representatives by the Committee on Accounts, in accordance with Resolves 1777-78, c 12 (June 5, 1777).  Additional legislation stipulated that towns’ supply and bounty (paid for military service) accounts up to Oct. 15, 1779  be lodged with the state secretary’s office (Resolves 1779-80, c 470, Oct. 8, 1779), that the Committee on Accounts would give a roll of sums due to each town to the treasurer’s office (Resolves 1779-80, c 653, Dec. 20, 1779), and that the Council would issue warrants for corresponding payment of towns to the treasurer’s office (Resolves 1779-80, c 915, Apr. 3, 1780).  Finally, Resolves 1779-80, c 933 (Apr. 7, 1780), reaffirmed town obligations to provide supplies until the end of soldier’s term of service.
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Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: 1775, 1782-1786 restricted as fragile. Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: Includes 1775, 1782-1786. Transferred to Archives from Special Collections, Massachusetts State Library, April 13, 2006
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Arrangement: Arranged by roll number
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Scope and Content: Successive committees of the House of Representatives were appointed to receive, examine, and pass upon accounts submitted for payment for purchases and services approved by the Revolutionary Massachusetts General Court.  From 1780, a joint standing committee of both houses of the Constitutional General Court (by at least 1782 known as the Committee on Accounts) performed the same function.  Approved accounts were forwarded to the Council (for concurrence as of 1776), which issued warrants for payment by the Treasury.  In 1786 (Resolves 1786, Sep Sess, c 128), the committee settled on an established procedure of making out a roll of all accounts that they had examined and approved, and submitting it to the General Court, at least once per legislative session.  The General Court approved the roll by a resolve requesting a Council warrant to permit payment of all the accounts within the roll. –Subseries (1) is the original listing of accounts gathered and submitted by the Committee on Accounts for the purpose of legislative approval, i.e., the resolve approving the issuing of a warrant by the Council to pay for the specified roll. Rolls are signed by the House Speaker, Senate president, and governor, on behalf of the Council.
Arrangement: In three subseries: (1) Legislative books, 1786-1848  (2) Treasury books, 1786-1853; (3) Treasury unnumbered books, 1854-1862; Arranged within each subseries by roll number (with occasional gaps);  arranged chronologically.
Notes: Roll format varies; many early rolls in subseries (2) are bound together
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Scope and Content: During the French and Indian War, the inhabitants of the British colony of Nova Scotia known as Acadians were considered of dubious loyalty because of their French origin.  Following the British capture of Fort Beauséjour from the French in the spring of 1755, orders were issued to remove these so-called French neutrals from their homes and to transport them to other British colonies, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. –Upon the arrival of French neutrals in Massachusetts, its General Court appointed a joint committee (Resolves 1755-1756, c 186 (Nov. 7, 1755)), to direct their disposition in the province.  Per St 1755-56, c 23 (Dec. 24, 1755), county courts, justices of the peace, local overseers of the poor, or selectmen were directed to employ, bind out, or support such individuals as they would any town inhabitant, but also, as would not be the case for their own indigent citizens, to submit accounts of expenses incurred thereby to the provincial secretary for reimbursement until Apr. 10, 1756. –A second joint committee was appointed per Resolves 1755-56, c 235 (Dec. 27, 1755),  to oversee these arrangements until further direction was received from Nova Scotia governor Charles Lawrence or the province’s own governor, William Shirley, presently commanding British forces.  (A committee appointed per Resolves 1756-57, c 351 (Feb. 14, 1757) did extract a commitment from Lawrence to reimburse the province (c 386 (Feb. 19, 1757; see also Resolves 1756-57, c 521 (Apr. 16, 1757) and Resolves 1757-58, c 327 (Jan. 24, 1758)).  The exiles were to remain provincial charges, and their presence in the various towns was not to render them legal inhabitants thereof. These provisions were confirmed on Jan. 16, 1756 (Resolves 1755-1756, c 239) and again on Jan. 24 (Resolves 1755-1756, c 248).  St 1755-56, c 35 (Mar. 6, 1756) directed local officials to supply work tools and housing to those exiles who were willing to be self-supporting, and relief to those incapable of work, again submitting accounts to the province for reimbursement of related expenses each June 1, through June 20, 1757. (The act was renewed per St 1757-58, c 7 (June 16, 1757) until Aug. 1, 1757; see also Resolves 1756-57, c 188 (Oct. 13, 1756)) –An order of Council (Leg Recs 21: 186 (May 28, 1756)) concurred with by the House appointed a joint committee to reconsider the fate of the French neutrals; its recommendation was that they be allowed to remain in the province (Resolves 1756-57, c 2 (May 28, 1756)).  Whereupon a joint committee to examine charges for support of French neutrals was established per Resolves 1756-57, c 15 (May 31, 1756).  It was responsible for reviewing all accounts submitted for the support of French neutrals, as well as for proposing some method of easing the charge to the province, and consisted of Council members Samuel Watts and William Brattle and House of Representative members Samuel Welles and (per Resolves 1756-57, c 32 (June 8, 1756))  Joseph Gerrish and Thomas Clapp. –As recommended by this committee, Resolves 1757-58, c 377 (Mar. 18, 1758), provided that the province was through local government to continue to provide housing, and to provide support to the sick, infirm, and aged French neutrals, but that others were to be self-supporting after Apr. 15, 1758.  House members were to survey the condition and capabilities of French neutrals in their districts and report back to the General Court at the next session.  These provisions were reiterated in Resolves 1758-1759, c 32 (June 14, 1758).  Meantime, the 1756 committee was apparently replaced by one of councillors only (Watts, Brattle, and John Chandler), per Council order of June 8, 1758 (Exec Recs 13: 406) –Resolves 1759-60, c 415 (Apr. 19, 1760) addressed the high cost of provincial support of the French neutrals by having them apportioned to the various counties and then towns  in accordance with amount of taxes paid by each locality, and making the towns responsible for their support as with any other poor (see also Resolves 1759-60, c 457 (Apr. 25, 1760), and c 477 (Apr. 26, 1760), which adopted the committee report). Resolves 1760-1761, c 118 (Aug. 15, 1760) explicitly designated French neutrals as legal inhabitants of the towns in which they were located.  In placing responsibility for support of French neutrals in the hands of the towns, the General Court effectively ended the work of the committee examining charges.
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Scope and Content: Guardians of Massachusetts Indians tribes on their plantations were appointed by the General Court to take, redistribute, and lease or sell Indian lands, using the income to support sick and indigent Indians, and reporting their transactions to the General Court.  These records include annual financial statements of such transactions as well as other reports and correspondence relating to the guardians’ duties.
Arrangement: Arranged generally by tribe, thereunder chronologically
Restrictions: Restricted as fragile; access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: Some materials are identified as having been addressed to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, but provenance of other items is unclear
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Scope and Content: As part of a survey of the Commonwealth commissioned by the governor in 1830 in order to prepare an accurate map of Massachusetts, a geological examination of the state was conducted and a list of mineral, botanical, and zoological specimens of the state compiled.  Two surveys were carried out by Edward Hitchcock of Amherst College, in 1830-1832 and in 1837-1840.  This series contains correspondence between Hitchcock and the governors from both surveys.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Files for 1835-1836 missing
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Scope and Content: Guardians of Massachusetts Indian tribes on their plantations were appointed by the General Court to take, redistribute, and lease or sell Indian lands, using the income to support sick and indigent Indians, and reporting their transactions to the General Court.  These records are annual financial statements from the Guardians of the Dudley Indians to the General Court’s Committee on Accounts (Resolves 1801, c 17) from 1801 through 1846, with a few other documents from 1857.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by fiscal year
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Scope and Content: As part of a survey of the Commonwealth commissioned by the governor in 1830 in order to prepare an accurate map of Massachusetts, trigonometrical field work was carried out from 1831 to 1841, and astronomical field work from 1831 to 1838.  The surveyors conducting the field work submitted to the governor these lists of expenditures accompanied by receipts and vouchers for reimbursement.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by surveyor, thereunder chronologically
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