Scope and Content: From the establishment of the first turnpike commission in the Commonwealth (St 1796, c 5), legislation required corporations building toll roads and bridges to file annually an account of expenses with the state secretary and a report of income and expenses with the governor.  Other corporations including insurance companies were also required to file returns.  The state secretary maintained these filings and created a transcript of summary information.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Spine title: Turnpike returns
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Scope and Content: By various acts intended to regulate the inspection of goods sold in or exported from the Commonwealth, appointed public inspectors were required to submit annual reports to the state secretary.  The secretary maintained these filings and transcribed the returns in summary form. –Transcripts of the annual returns, 1801-1889 (v. 1-2),  include date of inspection and quantity and quality of each commodity.  Among the goods inspected are beef and pork, pot and pearl ashes, leather, gun powder, pickled and smoked fish (see below), and lumber.  Volumes also include transcripts of returns of turnpike and toll bridge corporations, ca. 1856-1868 and transcripts of returns from insurance companies, 1825-1882.  For other such transcripts see Transcripts of corporation returns ((M-Ar)165X).  Originals of some of the records in the series generally are found in Returns from public inspectors, 1801-1919 ((M-Ar)139X); Returns of turnpike and toll bridge corporations, 1801-1862 ((M-Ar)957X); and Returns of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company ((M-Ar)1049X). –Appendix (v. 3): St 1859, c 102 required the secretary to publish in newspapers annual returns of the inspector general of pickled and smoked fish. Transcripts for 1859-1877 returns provide no figures but reference these publications, as found here in a scrapbook of news clips, 1863-1896.
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Scope and Content: The New Plymouth (later “Old”) Colony, settled in 1620, became part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay under the Charter of 1691, but its records continued to be held in Plymouth successively by the last colonial secretary, clerk of the Inferior Court, and Plymouth County register of deeds.  In the 19th century, concerns over condition of and access to records led to their transcription by the Commonwealth, allowing the originals to remain in Plymouth.
Arrangement:  In three subseries: (1) 1818 transcript; (2) 1818-1820 transcript (3) 1855-1857 transcript; arranged chronologically –both arranged by topic, thereunder chronologically
Notes: Spine title: Plymouth Colony records
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Scope and Content: The Commonwealth, pursuant to St 1828, c 113, s 7 as amended by Resolves 1833, c 28, was required to pay to the Trustees of the New England Asylum for the Blind (later known successively as the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind (1832), the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind (1839), the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind (1877), and the Perkins School for the Blind (1955)) an annual sum to provide for the tuition of up to twenty indigent children certified by a physician to be blind.  Transcripts were kept by the state secretary of returns of the supervisor of the school stating the names and number of beneficiaries attending the school.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Authorized by a Nov. 6, 1901 vote of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Eddy Town Record Fund was established from the bequest of Robert Henry Eddy to publish the vital records of Massachusetts.  In 1902 the legislature authorized the state secretary to purchase copies of these published volumes with the stipulation that the mss. become the property of the Commonwealth and be deposited with the secretary’s office (St 1902, c 470).  Copies purchased by the secretary were distributed to each public library, historical society, college, and registry of deeds in the Commonwealth; and each state or territorial library in the United States.  Series mss. are bound transcripts of vital records copied in each town from sources such as vital records registers; records of marriages returned to town clerks; published birth, death, and marriage notices; and records from clergy of marriages performed. –Information includes individual’s name; names of parents and spouse; and dates of birth or baptism, death, and marriage or intent to marry.  Birth records often group births by family and may include additional information concerning family relationships.  Death records include cause and date of death and may include location of cemetery.  Source of information is also noted in some entries.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by municipality
Notes: Collated: 1902-1932
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Scope and Content: Following the destruction of public records by fire in the Court House (Old State House) in 1747, the Massachusetts General Court directed the provincial secretary to record in his office the 1629 and 1691 charters, with the commissions of the governor, lieutenant governor,  justices of the Superior Court, and his own, per Orders 1747-48, c 182 (Dec. 11, 1747). Starting with these transcriptions, the state secretary (known as such from 1780), as part of his responsibility as record keeper for Massachusetts, continued to produce duplicates of its important legal documents.  Many transcripts were examined and signed by the secretary responsible for the copying. –Subseries (1) includes such transcripts, starting with charters and commissions mandated above. Other documents include indentures, orders of the King and Council, ratification of approval or disallowance by the King and Council of acts passed by the General Court. –Subseries (2) includes transcripts of treaties of the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation (Treaties of Paris) signed at the end of the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, documents concerning western New York boundary claims by Massachusetts and other state boundary documents, Indian treaties, powers of attorney for deeds to land in the Commonwealth by nonresident proprietors in Lincoln County, Maine, and deeds of release for other Maine lands. Later records include contracts, leases, deeds, and agreements including deeds to land taken for construction of the State House, and contracts with the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners for the dredging and filling of Boston Harbor. –For original documents see, among others: Legal records filed with the secretary, 1800-2001 ((M-Ar)134)
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Pre-Revolutionary  (2) Post-Revolutionary; arranged chronologically
Notes:  Collated: early items recorded from 1747, others presumably contemporarily, or in time period of examining secretary, when indicated. Contents: (SS 1:1) 1629-1763. (SS 1:2) 1677-1774 (bulk 1763-1774) (SS 2:1) 1778-1845, 1871.  (SS 2:2) 1873-1887. (SS 2:3) 1887-1891
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Scope and Content: As record keeper for the Commonwealth, the state secretary has responsibility for administration of elections, maintenance of public records, filing and distribution of regulations and public documents, corporate registration, lobbying agent registration, recording of appointments and commissions, storage of historical data, preservation of historic sites, administration and enforcement of the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act, information and referral on all aspects of state government, and until 1990, administration of the state decennial census.  The secretary may request his office and subagency heads to provide transition reports to facilitate the orderly transfer of responsibilities to the secretary’s successor, and to assess the progress and status of the office and its constituent divisions.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by office holder, thereunder by subagency
Notes: Dates of published materials may predate file dates
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Scope and Content: Resolves 1786, Apr Sess, c 11 (1787), St 1789, c 15, and St 1791, c 59 required each incoming state treasurer (elected annually) to post a surety bond with the state secretary, against failure to fulfill conditions of office, as found in this series (see currently MGLA c 10, ss 2-3)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes:  Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, boxes 80A-B. –transferred to Archives from Massachusetts Historical Society, Dec. 1, 2003. Series incomplete–holdings: 1787-1788, 1790-1882; for a 1784 treasurer’s bond see: Massachusetts archives collection ((M-Ar)45X), v. 273, p. 109
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Scope and Content: Any citizen or group of citizens in Massachusetts may petition the General Court for legislative action on any subject.  Such a petition is endorsed by a member of the legislature for presentation to the General Court, where through the legislative process it is unpassed or passed, subject to the governor’s approval or veto.  Bills that fail to pass in the Senate or House of Representatives are filed with that chamber’s clerk for one year.  Series consists of legislation relating to Indian affairs of the Commonwealth, as extracted from: Senate unpassed legislation ((M-Ar)231) and: House unpassed legislation ((M-Ar)230).
Arrangement: Arranged by chamber, thereunder chronologically by legislative year, and then by docket no
Notes: Series created in the process of a microfilming project, Apr. 1993. –St 1939, c 508, s 3 (amending St 1844, c 153) places custody of clerk’s files with the state secretary after the legislative year
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Scope and Content: St 1884, c 255 mandated the renovation of State Prison buildings in Charlestown, Boston, previously used until 1878, and the establishment of the Massachusetts Reformatory in the Concord quarters used by the State Prison since that time.  On reestablishment of the State Prison in Boston, the governor was to issue a warrant directing the State Prison warden to remove from Concord to Boston all prisoners determined ineligible for transfer to the Massachusetts Reformatory (s 4), i.e., those with sentences of five years or more with more than a year to serve after commutation for good behavior, or sentences of life (s 3).  Series consists of warrant to the warden as issued by the state secretary on the governor’s behalf, and return by the warden to the state secretary as directed, listing prisoners removed to the Boston facility.
Arrangement: arranged alphabetically by prisoner name
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 55
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