Scope and Content: Pursuant to Const Amend Art 21, a census of legal voters in each municipality of Massachusetts was taken in 1857, and, beginning in 1865 and every ten years thereafter, a census of legal voters was taken as part of a census of inhabitants.  Numeration was the basis on which the House of Representatives the following year apportioned its members among the counties, which were then divided in the same manner into representative districts by a meeting of the county commissioners (in Suffolk County the mayor and aldermen of Boston).  Apportionment procedures were redefined by Const Amend Art 71 (ratified 1930) for decennial censuses beginning in 1935. –Also included is an 1840 gubernatorial proclamation listing numbers of senators and representatives by district as determined by governor and council under provisions of an earlier procedure pursuant to Const Amend Art 13, which provided for a decennial census of inhabitants beginning 1840 (St 1840, c 68).  For a possibly related series see: Returns of numbers of voters in cities and towns in 1850, 1851 ((M-Ar)999X)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by year, thereunder by county
Notes:  Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 72. Box 1: 1856-1926.  Box 2: 1939-1968
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