Scope and Content: In 1776 the Massachusetts General Court appointed a Committee of Sequestration to inventory, lease, and otherwise manage estates abandoned by Loyalists, primarily in Boston, and to forward their confiscated goods or proceeds from their auctioning to state authorities, until its charge was withdrawn in 1781. Series documents chiefly the first and last of these functions. –Vol. 1, 1776-1778, includes inventories of personal and real estate by absentee, listing items such as furnishings, buildings, slaves, books, by room, store, or other location where found. Sheriff William Greenleaf is noted in some entries as the seller at auction. Absentees include Thomas Hutchinson, Lewis Deblois, Gilbert Deblois, and Edward Lyde. Cover title: Absentees’ estates. –Vol. 2, 1776, lists articles delivered to the commissary by order of the committee, and from whose holdings they were taken (many from the Debloises or Edward Lyde). Items include tools, compasses, locks, lead, files, paper, and pans. Notations indicate that Commissary General Francis Abbott received items as of July 1, 1776 and Commissary General Richard Devens after that date. The volume is signed by Jonathan Browne, committee chair. Another version of this record is found in: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Massachusetts archives collection ((M-Ar)45X), v. 280, p.121 et seq., along with other records of the committee, such as inventories, receipts, vouchers, and accounts. Caption title: Account of sundry articles sold to the commissary.
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Notes: Also known as: House, 1912, no. 1697. Additional copy found with: Massachusetts.  Minimum Wage Commission. Annual reports ((M-Ar)1318(Subseries)).
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Scope and Content: In 1860 and 1861 the General Court appointed successive joint special committees to consider connecting Barnstable Bay with Buzzards Bay by ship canal or channel.  This final report, submitted in Nov. 1862, was signed by both committees.
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Scope and Content: The commission, consisting of Massachusetts General Court members and gubernatorial appointees, was established per Resolves 1962, c 108, as amended by Resolves 1963, c 118, and Resolves 1965, c 2, for the purpose of making an investigation and study of the laws of the Commonwealth pertaining to education, of the educational institutions of the Commonwealth and their organization, of the various school systems therein, and of the educational laws, programs, and school systems of other states, with a view to elevating educational standards in the Commonwealth, reorganizing the scope of various educational boards and administrators of the Commonwealth, revising and modernizing the organizational and financial structure of schools and school systems, extending the facilities, curricula, and educational goals of the schools and colleges of the Commonwealth, and providing increased financial aid for education.
Notes: Transferred to Archives by the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, July 2010. “June, 1965”
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Scope and Content: In 1986 the secretary of state challenged the City of Boston’s 1985 decennial census results; the Decennial Census Commission was established by the governor to investigate.  This series was created to report to the secretary the commission’s findings on the determinatioin and verification of the Boston census.  The report includes a description of the commission’s proceedings and purpose; findings relating to the city’s census process, to the verification and correction of the census, and to the determination and verification of the city population based on other data; and recommendations, including one that the state decennial census be discontinued and that federal census data be used to set the boundaries for state senatorial and representative districts.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Guardians of Indian tribes on their plantations were appointed by the Massachusetts General Court to oversee their welfare.  In furtherance and clarification of these efforts, St 1859, c 266 (see also resolves 1859, c 108) conferred rights of citizenship on Indians and their descendents domiciled in the Commonwealth, such conferral to be at a pace conditional on  the recommendations of a commissioner to be appointed by the governor.  Such commissioner would examine and report on the Indians’ number and distribution; social, political, and economic condition; and any other relevant facts as to their personal or social condition.  The report was written by John Milton Earle, submitted to the governor and by him to the General Court in 1861, and published as: 1861 S 96 (see Resolves 1861, c 104).
Arrangement: In two series: (1) Report (2) Appendix. Arranged within each subseries by tribe
Restrictions: Restricted as fragile. Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
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Scope and Content: Commissioners appointed by the governor in 1825 were to ascertain the practicability of making a canal from Boston Harbor to the Connecticut River and possibly extending it to the Hudson River near its junction with the Erie Canal.  Series is commissioners’ report as submitted to the General Court.
Notes: Plan accompanying report removed to: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Maps and plans ((M-Ar)50), no. 1810
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Scope and Content: The Special Commission on the Charles River Basin was established to investigate methods of making the Charles River Basin more safe, suitable, and attractive for recreation (Resolves 1928, c 16).  The final printed report was the result of research, hearings, and testimony of state and town officials.
Notes: Includes two copies
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Emergency Committee on Unemployment was created to provide relief to the unemployed during the Depression.  The committee set policy and organized relief efforts in cities and towns to furnish employment, clothing, shelter, education, recreation, and moral support to the unemployed.  The report is a typescript copy detailing the formation and structure of the committee, its policies and programs, and descriptions and syllabi from cooperative educational and vocational programs.  Program reports also contain some correspondence and committee financial records.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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