Scope and Content: Massachusetts soldiers in the Revolutionary War faced shortages in clothing supplies. Various Massachusetts committees and agents were responsible for procurement of such supplies, a process that shifted to the Board of War in 1777.  Resolves 1777-78, c 897 (Mar. 13, 1778), directed the selectmen of each town to be in charge of collecting clothing items from their inhabitants. The selectmen were to provide a number of shirts, shoes, and stockings, based on one seventh of the male inhabitants above the age of sixteen. After the items were collected, an agent, selected by the Board of War from each county, transported and made an inventory of the items. Inventories include town name, selectmen, and prices charged. Once the selectmen were paid, they were to reimburse townspeople for supplies. Any selectman or agent who neglected to provide a return was to pay a thirty-pound fine. –Resolves 1778-79, c 79 (June 17,1778) appointed a new set of county agents and outlined new collection and payment procedures. Subsequent clothing collections were ordered per Resolves 1779-80, c 138 (June 21, 1779), Resolves 1779-80, c 1092 (May 4, 1780), and Resolves 1781, c 61 (June 22, 1781). Resolves of June 1778, June 1779, May 1780, and June 1781 all list the number of items each town was to send, and the county agents appointed to take the collections. Agents were directed to deliver all clothing to the Board of War in Boston, until the Board was disbanded per Resolves 1780, Jan 1781 Sess, c 62 (Feb. 8, 1781). Clothing was then sent to the Committee for Purchasing and Forwarding Small Stores.
Arrangement: Organized in three subseries: (1) Clothing returns, 1777-1784  (2) Caleb Hopkins clothing records, 1778-1780  (3) Clothing bills, 1777- 1782 (bulk 1781-1782)
Notes: The Massachusetts state secretary served as custodian of the state’s Revolutionary War records
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