Scope and Content: As custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts, the state secretary was, from 1826 to 1971, responsible for engrossing on parchment acts and resolves that had been passed by the General Court to be engrossed (St 1826, c 37; St 1971, c 34).  (In 1971 the function was assumed by the General Court.)  Registers of acts and resolves received for engrossment was created to track bills to be prepared for final passage in the legislature.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date received
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Scope and Content: The state secretary holds constitutional and statutory responsibilities for elections in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Part of this responsibility is to print ballots for statewide and national elections and to publish their results.  Series was created as a listing of candidate names with municipality of residence and party affiliation for each election year.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically, thereunder by office, and then by county/district
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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 by date of application
Notes: Spine title: Certificates of service. –Contents: [v. 1] Applicants for pension 1832/list of pension applicants 1832, July 1832-Feb. 1833. [v. 2] Old soldiers book of certificates, Feb. 1834-Feb. 1836. [v. 3] v. 1 on spine, May 1843-Feb. 1846. [v. 4] v. 2 on spine, Feb. 1846-July 1852,. [v. 5] v. 3 on spine, July 1852-1885. Data for Feb. 1833-Feb. 1834: See Muster rolls of the Revolutionary War ((M-Ar)57X), v. 53, p. 140; data for 1836-1842 lacking
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Scope and Content: The state secretary (since 1961 through a unit currently called the Commissions Section) attests to all commissions of office signed by the governor, administering the oath of office to and/or recording the name of these and other public appointees.  Registers were created by the secretary to provide a chronological listing of commissions classified by office title, serving as partial index to: Massachusetts. Commissions Section. Register of civil commissions, 1775-1975 ((M-Ar)184X) –Subseries (1) lists agents, board members, commissioners to qualify civil officers, special commissioners, constables, coroners, court appointees, trustees, judges, inspectors, medical examiners, harbor pilots, and public warehousemen (before 1916).  Information in both subseries includes name, residence, dates of appointment and qualification, and notes on termination of appointment.
Arrangement: In two subseries: Subseries (1) Civil officers classified, 1855-1948 (8 v.) ; Subseries (2)  Public warehousemen, 1916-1937 (1 v.); Both subseries arranged at vol. level chronologically by year span, thereunder within each vol. by office –arranged by county. –then arranged  by date of appointment
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Scope and Content: The state secretary (since 1961 through a unit currently called the Commissions Section)  attests to all commissions of office signed by the governor, administering the oath of office to and/or recording the name of these and other public appointees. Resolves 1780, Oct Sess, c 58 authorized the governor and council to appoint persons empowered to administer oaths of office to public officials receiving commissions, called commissioners to qualify civil officers, dedimus justices, or, more recently, commissioners to qualify public officers. St 1829, c 125 authorized the governor to appoint commissioners residing in other states or U.S. territories to administer oaths and take depositions on behalf of the Commonwealth, and to take acknowledgment of deeds or contracts to be recorded in the Commonwealth. Such commissioners were to take oath of office before a justice of the peace, to be filed with the state secretary. St 1856, c 253 provided for appointment of such commissioners in other countries. Register was created to provide a chronological listing of these commissioners by state or country. Information in entries includes date of appointment, name, residence, date qualified, and date of expiration of appointment. –For earlier holdings and a list of related series see: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Records of commissions, proclamations, pardons, and other official documents, 1713-1945 (bulk 1747-1936) ((M-Ar)161X)
Arrangement: In two subseries: Subseries (1) Commissioners in other states, 1857-1959; Subseries (2) Commissioners in other countries, 1856-1956; arranged by state, thereunder chronologically
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Scope and Content: All insolvent debtors in the Commonwealth were given the right to apply for a hearing before the county judge of probate to decide distribution of their real and personal property to creditors by St 1838, c 163.  These registers of insolvent debtors were created by the secretary of the Commonwealth from returns submitted to him monthly by judges of probate and masters in chancery, 1844-1898.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by initial of surname of debtor, thereunder by date filed with the secretary
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Scope and Content: Distribution by the state secretary of published laws of the Commonwealth, laws of Congress, laws of other states, reports of decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court, and printed maps was authorized by various resolves annually.  This series consists of registers of distribution data.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The state secretary (since 1961 through a unit currently called the Commissions Section) attests to all commissions of office signed by the governor, administering the oath of office to and/or recording the name of these and other public appointees.  In a related function, the secretary is authorized (St 1865, c 231 et seq.; MGLA c 9, ss 15-15A) to notify each person commissioned as a justice of the peace or notary public of the time of the commission’s expiration.  Registers were created to record this notification. –For a listing of related series see: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Records of commissions, proclamations, pardons, and other official documents,  1713-1945 (bulk 1747-1936)((M-Ar)161X)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts state secretary provided certificates of citizenship and passports for seamen and travelers. Although an act of Congress, Aug. 18, 1856, prohibited nonfederal officials from issuing passports, Massachusetts continued to authorize passports per St 1857, c 224, because federal law made no provision for citizens or seamen of color. When this exclusion was corrected after the Civil War, St 1869, c 365 repealed the issuing of state passports, at the request of the U.S. secretary of state and the Massachusetts attorney general.  Register records passports and certificates of citizenship issued by the state secretary. –Vol.1 (1833-1849) includes passport numbers 1-2,297.  Vol. 2 (1850-1869) includes passport numbers 2,298-2,776 for 1850-1857.  Beginning in 1858 entries are headed as being for certificates of citizenship issued pursuant to St 1859, c 224, which authorized the state secretary to issue passports or certificates of citizenship regardless of color.  Entries include notations regarding naturalization, person to whom the applicant was known, or certification.  Numbering is continuous for 1858-1861, 1863-1865, and 1866-1869.  There are no entries for 1862, a year in which travel outside the Commonwealth was restricted. (But see: Applications for travel permission, 1862 ((M-Ar)129X) and: Register for travel permission, 1862 ((M-Ar)130X).)  From 1865, entries are headed as pursuant to St 1865, c 157, s 1, which called for the collection of a two-dollar fee and an affirmation or oath to support the Constitution of the United States in order for an individual to receive a passport or certificate of citizenship.  For actual applications see:  Application certificates for passports, 1815-1854 ((M-Ar)126X) and: Application certificates for travel to the South, 1842-1845 ((M-Ar)127X). For an earlier register see: Ledgers of fees received, 1812-1882 ((M-Ar)122X)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Cover title: Passports
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Scope and Content: At the close of the 1918 session of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917, a Committee on Rearrangement of the Constitution was appointed to incorporate after the 1918 election all amendments adopted since 1780 in a rearranged text.  Accepted by the Convention (Aug. 12-13, 1919) and by the electorate (Nov. 1919), the rearranged constitution was challenged by governor and council and struck down by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1920 (233 Mass 603), a decision reaffirmed in 1921 (Loring v. Young, 239 Mass 349).  A 1924 attempt to submit the rearranged constitution to the electorate by initiative petition was overruled by the attorney general.  This series contains two copies of the rearrangement, one with certification by the state secretary of the 1919 ratification, the other signed by the Committee on Rearrangement.
Notes: In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the state secretary is custodian of foundation records of the Commonwealth, including this series
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