Scope and Content: While Massachusetts session laws, commonly known as Province laws (1692-1780) and Acts and resolves (from 1780), and codes beginning with Revised statutes (1836) are readily available, such materials from the colonial period are considerably more obscure. –The Massachusetts General Court passed an order on Mar. 12, 1638 (Mass Recs 1: 222) to have drawn up a “compendious abridgement” of “necessary and fundamental laws” proposed by the freemen of every town, also a compendium of orders passed by the court to this point. As Governor John Winthrop noted a year later (History 1: 388), while the effort continued to produce a legal code, “the people had long desired a body of laws, and thought that their condition was unsafe, while so much power rested in the discretion of the magistrates.”  Both John Cotton and Nathaniel Ward prepared drafts, that of the latter being chosen as the basis for the colony’s first code. On Dec. 10, 1641, what was known as the Body of liberties (History 2:66) was voted by the General Court to “stand in force” (Mass Recs, 1: 346). It was circulated only in manuscript, a copy of which survives at the Boston Athenaeum, and was not printed until 1843 (Mass Hist Soc Coll 3rd ser, viii) –A 1648 revision authorized in 1647, The book of the general laws and liberties. Cambridge, 1648, exists in a unique printed copy at the Huntington Library. The existence of a printed 1650 supplement, not surviving, has been inferred. A 1660 revision authorized in 1658, was printed in Cambridge with the same title, followed by various supplements, 1664-1668. A 1672 revision was printed, The general laws and liberties of the Massachusetts Colony. Cambridge : S. Green, 1672, followed by supplements through 1686.
Notes: The state secretary is custodian of this and other foundation records of the Commonwealth
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Scope and Content: On Jan. 11, 1798, Gov. Increase Sumner led a parade from what was to become known as the Old State House to the newly completed  State House designed by Charles Bulfinch. This event was commemorated on its two hundredth anniversary (Jan. 11, 1998) by a similar parade led by Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin, Gov. Paul Cellucci, Senate President Thomas Birmingham, and House Speaker Thomas Finneran.  Speeches on the State House steps were followed in the Doric Hall inside the building by the dedication of a memorial  plaque.
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Scope and Content: As early as the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts legislature provided pensions to soldiers wounded or disabled while in military service. Throughout the Revolutionary War, pensions continued to be issued at the state level to members of the Continental Army, as authorized by the Continental Congress. In addition, Massachusetts also provided post-war bonuses (bounties) in the form of monetary payment or a grant of land in Maine to veterans meeting certain requirements. Because so few individuals were disabled in service or qualified for bounties, the state granted pensions or bounties to only several hundred individuals. From 1789 pensions were funded by the federal government, from 1792 new pensions were administered by it, and from 1806 veterans of state troops and militia were also eligible. From 1818, Congress expanded pension eligibility for Revolutionary War service beyond invalidism, adding thousands to the rolls. However, to qualify, veterans often needed to obtain certificates of service from the state. –On Apr. 23, 1782,  Congress authorized pensions for Revolutionary War soldiers who were sick or wounded. Massachusetts paid out the pensions through Commissioner of Pensions John Lucas, with the expectation of federal reimbursement. The Massachusetts General Court passed Resolves 1785, Feb 1786 Sess, c 134 ( Mar.17, 1786), requiring all officers and soldiers receiving or applying for a pension to provide proper evidence of their disability to Lucas, who was authorized to provide certificates attesting to their disability, with copies to go to the state secretary. The secretary was responsible for making an annual list of persons certified and transmitting it to the federal secretary of war. Resolves 1786,  May Sess,  c 123 (July 8, 1786) required Lucas to supply the governor with a list of pensioners fit for garrison duty, whom he could appoint as guards of the convicts at Castle Island.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Under MGLA c 127, s 167, attorneys representing any person applying for a pardon, parole, commutation, or respite from sentence must file a written and signed statement that no payment or receipt of money, gifts, or services has been requested or taken beyond a reasonable fee for service.  Any additional payment must be detailed and filed with the Office of the Secretary of State.  All statements are maintained as permanent public records.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by decade, thereunder alphabetically by attorney
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Scope and Content: During the Revolutionary War, rapid depreciation of  currency caused pay to soldiers to become significantly reduced in value. In response to pleas from the Massachusetts troops in the Continental Army, and from Congress, the Massachusetts General Court passed Resolves 1779-80, c 446 (Feb. 6, 1779), which pledged to adjust wages at the end of the war based on actual prices of commodities. Additionally, to encourage soldiers to reenlist at the end of their initial term of service, Resolves 1779-80, c 371 (Oct. 1, 1779) promised bounties and prompt pay adjustments to those who reenlisted, appointing a committee (thereafter usually called the Committee to Settle with the Army) to revise amounts owed up to Jan. 1, 1780, for those officers and soldiers who were part of the state’s quota of the Continental Army. Resolves 1779-80, c 765 (Jan. 12, 1780) set up depreciation tables indicating, by month in which the payment was made, how much reimbursement was owed, based on the value of commodities at that time. St 1779-80, c 29 (Jan. 13, 1780) authorized the treasurer to issue notes (called depreciation notes; see: Massachusetts. Treasury Office Certificates of Anti-Monopoly Loan of 1780, Anderson MA 20-22, 58 ((M-Ar)1599X)) to pay the balances owed officers and soldiers, over future years, with interest. Those officers or soldiers still in service were paid in four equal parts over 1781-1784; those not in service were paid over 1785-1788. –In addition to determining the amount of pay owed to each soldier or officer, the committee was directed, per Resolves 1779-80, c 791 (Jan. 14, 1780), to deduct amounts already given to soldiers in the form of, e.g., bounties, wages, clothing, supplies provided to families. Throughout 1780, numerous resolves were passed to include others who served in various capacities and sought depreciation money, but were not considered part of the state’s quota of the Continental Army. Clarification of eligibility was verified by Congress in some cases to ensure that Massachusetts would ultimately be reimbursed for these charges by the federal government. –Later adjustments were made for pay owed for 1780, with Resolves 1780, Jan 1781 Sess, c 216 (Mar. 8, 1781) directing the pay to soldiers and officers, on behalf of Congress, in three equal payments, with interest, in 1784, 1785 and 1786. Other reimbursements and deductions to be included were detailed on preliminary forms in Resolves 1780, Apr Sess, c 191, May 18, 1781. The Treasurer issued notes (Massachusetts. Treasury Office. Army specie notes, Anderson MA 29-31, 1782 ((M-Ar)2311X)) to pay these balances.
Arrangement: Arranged by regiment
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Scope and Content: As early as the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts legislature provided pensions to soldiers wounded or disabled while in military service. Throughout the Revolutionary War, pensions continued to be issued at the state level to members of the Continental Army, as authorized by the Continental Congress. In addition, Massachusetts also provided post-war bonuses (bounties) in the form of monetary payment or a grant of land in Maine to veterans meeting certain requirements. Because so few individuals were disabled in service or qualified for bounties, the state granted pensions or bounties to only several hundred individuals. From 1789 pensions were funded by the federal government, from 1792 new pensions were administered by it, and from 1806 veterans of state troops and militia were also eligible. From 1818, Congress expanded pension eligibility for Revolutionary War service beyond invalidism, adding thousands to the rolls. However, to qualify, veterans often needed to obtain certificates of service from the state.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Following St 1828, c 101, s 2 (1829), which directed trustees of agricultural societies of Massachusetts to offer premiums for cultivation of the white mulberry tree and culture of silk, the General Court passed successive laws authorizing payment of bounties by the Commonwealth to silk producers: St 1835, c 130 (for two years), for reeled or thrown silk; St 1836, c 206 (for seven years), additionally for cocoons; St 1839, c 59, limiting bounty to cocoons only; St 1845, c 199 (for three years).  Certificates on behalf of silk growers (subseries (1)) were filed with the state secretary by local justices of the peace (1835) or selectmen (1836).  Submissions were periodically audited and listed in rolls (subseries (2)) and redeemed by Treasury warrant as drawn by governor and council.  Certificates are present only for rolls 1-2, 1842 and rolls 1-2, 1843 (i.e., audit year)
Arrangement:  In two subseries: (1) Certificates, 1842-1843  (2) Account rolls, 1837- 1843, 1845-1848 (warrants 1840-1843, 1846-1850); arranged within each subseries chronologically
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 84
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Scope and Content: Even before the collapse of the Dominion of New England (Apr. 1689), which soon led to the de facto restoration of the government of the 1629 charter ((M-Ar)23X) in the Massachusetts Bay colony, Increase Mather was in England lobbying for an official restoration of that charter.  In fact, the charter signed by King William III (this series) in Oct. 1691 provided for royal appointment of governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary, the continuation of a General Court lower house elected by freeholders, but without religious test, and a Council serving both as an executive power and legislative upper house, chosen by the General Court. The governor could veto acts of the General Court, served as commander-in-chief, appointed judges with Council consent, and consented to General Court appointments.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the Secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts
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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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Scope and Content: Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, was commissioned in June 1697 by William III, King of England, as royal governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. He served in New York from Apr. 1698 until his death in Mar. 1701, and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from May 1699 to July 1700.  This virtually illegible document is presumed to be his royal commission as noted above.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes:  In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts. The parchment leaves are rolled, and tied together at the bottom in reverse order, with a wax seal appended
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