Scope and Content: The Historical Records Survey was established in Massachusetts in 1936 under the direction of the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA).  In 1939, under federal mandate requiring state sponsorship of the survey, the state secretary shared direction of it with the WPA, now renamed Work Projects Administration.  In Massachusetts the Historical Records Survey also undertook a survey of black historical records in the state.  The project focused on locating and describing relevant materials, including those dealing with abolitionism, in the Boston Public Library and to a lesser extent in other repositories, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Harvard College Library, the State Library, and the New Bedford Free Public Library.  Survey files were developed with the intention of publishing guides to the records; however, lack of funding and the onset of World War II led to the the termination of the survey in 1942 with no publication having been issued.  This series contains information gathered by field workers and recorded on survey forms, lists and inventories created from the data, and some administrative files relating to the survey.
Notes: Upon termination of the project in 1942, unpublished survey materials were deposited with the Forbes Library in Northampton. They were transferred to the State Library in 1972 and to the Archives in 1980
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