Scope and Content: Under the direction of the state archivist, the Massachusetts Archives is responsible for securing, preserving, and managing noncurrent records of the Commonwealth determined to possess archival value.  The state secretary’s responsibility for such records, grounded in the Constitution (1780), was not specifically delegated until 1897, when the third clerk of the secretary’s office was designated as chief of the Archives Division (St 1897, c 351).  Series reflects administration of the secretary’s archival function chiefly after the establishment of the division and until provision for the professional post of Archivist of the Commonwealth (St 1962, c 18).
Arrangement: Arranged within each sequence chronologically
Notes: Chiefly derived from former series: Administrative files, 1846-1983 ((M-Ar)168), in turn derived from the state secretary’s: Miscellaneous collection, box 44
Related Catalog Records:

Archivegrid
OCLC