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.  Certificates are the secretary’s copies of sworn oaths of office. Early records contain primarily form and sample certificates, arranged chronologically. From 1850 actual commission certificates, signed by the governor, are included for such appointments as pilot and commissioner of Indians. Also included are letters of appointment and resignation. Holdings also include certificates for Massachusetts commissioners in other states, 1844-1926 (as well as some from other states in Massachusetts), commissioners in other countries, 1857-1948, and supervisor of elections, 1901-1905. From 1935, certificates are primarily for justices of the peace and notaries public. From 1968 other offices are included, such as commissioners to qualify civil officers, state police, special state police, deputy sheriff, assistant (and special assistant) attorney general, district attorney, assistant (and special assistant) district attorney, and weigher and measurer of motor vehicles and trailers. –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 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. Register of civil commissions was created by the secretary to provide a chronological listing of nominations by county for civil officers including notaries public, justices of the peace, commissioners to qualify civil officers (from 1788-1824; for later see (M-Ar)183X), and clerks of court, with separate sections of justices and judges for the whole state. –For listings by office see:  Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Registers of civil officers classified 1855-1948 ((M-Ar)185X). For a listing of other 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 at vol. level chronologically by year span, thereunder by county, and then by date of nomination
Notes: Volumes for 1864-1866 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. 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. Series consists of a register, compiled probably in the early twentieth century, that serves as an index of commissioners to qualify civil officers. –Also included are sheets, 1822-1880 only, listing appointment date, name, municipality, and qualification date. Arranged in alphabetical sections, it is probably a draft of the register as it was compiled from original records. –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 by county, thereunder alphabetically by first letter of surname, and then 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 responsible for issuing qualification certificates to nonresident clergy to perform marriages in Massachusetts pursuant to St 1926, c 102, as amended (MGLA c 207, s 39).  This register was created as the secretary’s record of such certificates issued.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Volume 1: 1929-1946. Volume 2: 1946-1963. Volume 3: 1963-1965
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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.  Having taken the oath of office, each official signs a certificate (see: Qualification certificates of appointed officials ((M-Ar)181)) and register of qualification. From 1858 to 1968 two separate sets of registers were maintained, one by the secretary (spines often marked secretary’s department) and another by the Council (spines marked executive). Executive registers were frequently signed by the governor as the qualifying officer. The two were combined in one volume (for Executive Dec 1968-May 1976, Jan 1979; and for the secretary Aug 1979-Feb 1980) after which it appears only the secretary volumes were maintained.
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 must also be notified of the acceptance of, rejection of, or failure to act upon an act or resolve of the General Court requiring a vote by a municipality or corporation (St 1883, c 100, amended by St 1935, c 69).  Registers were created upon receipt of these: Returns of acceptance of local option statutes ((M-Ar)192).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Registers for 1926-1949 missing
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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 must also be notified of the acceptance of, rejection of, or failure to act upon an act or resolve of the General Court requiring a vote by a municipality or corporation (St 1883, c 100, amended by St 1935, c 69).  Returns, filed by municipal or corporate clerk, include totals and results of votes.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically in three sequences: 1876-1975, ca. 1976-ca. 1980, ca. 1981-1987; thereunder by municipality or corporation
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Scope and Content: The Commonwealth Museum, located at the site of the Massachusetts Archives at Columbia Point (Dorchester, Boston), opened a permanent exhibition on the history of Massachusetts in 2009. Based on facsimiles of Archives documentary and artifactual holdings, it also includes a treasurers gallery containing the first (vellum) leaves of the 1629 colonial and 1691 provincial charters and the 1780 Constitution, the vellum Massachusetts copy of the federal Bill of Rights, the Massachusetts  printed copy of the Declaration of Independence, and the Paul Revere copperplate engraving of the Boston Massacre. –In preparation for creating the display, the firm of Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc., engaged the services of Kathryn Myatt Carey, Nahant, Mass., conservator of works of art on papers, to describe exhibition requirements of the treasures and of several other original documents that at one time were considered for possible inclusion in the exhibition as originals.  Series consists of her loose-leaf compilation of condition reports, treatment proposals, and treatment cost estimates, along with correspondence relating to document encasements, and additional reports on artifacts among the Archives holdings compiled by Archaea Technica (Mimi Leveque, Waltham, Mass.). The report is heavily illustrated with color photographs of the archival objects under consideration.
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Scope and Content: Early incorporations of religious, charitable, educational, and other non-profit organizations were authorized through charters granted through the passage of special acts by the General Court. Changes to this process began per St 1857, c 56, which directed the articles of association of charitable corporations to be filed in the registry of deeds in the county where the organization was located. Filing of articles of organization and the issue of certificates of charter by the Secretary of the Commonwealth for charitable and other non-profit organizations was established per St 1874, c 375. –St 1901 c 405 required charitable organizations applying for incorporation to have their purposes and personnel investigated for possible illegal activity or unsuitable persons by the Board of State Charities (in 1919 the Dept. of Public Welfare), before they could be issued a certificate of incorporation by the state secretary. St 1954, c 539, s 1 gave these investigatory and filing responsibilities to the newly-established Division of Public Charities in the Attorney General’s Office. See its: Charitable corporation filings ((M-Ar)554).
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by filing date
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Scope and Content: Per St 1851, c 133, corporations were required to submit a certificate to the state secretary, who was to publish and submit to the legislature an annual abstract of all filings; by the 1890s this function was delegated to the secretary’s Corporation Division, later known as the Corporations Division.  The filings, per MGLA c 158, s 37, came to be annual reports providing information as of the last day of the fiscal year of the corporation, including officers of the corporation, financial assets, addresses, and annual meeting date; in earlier years also lists of stockholders with number of shares held. The certificate, provided by the state secretary, is signed by the corporate president or vice-president, attested by the corporate secretary, and sworn to before a notary.
Notes: 590 reels (1929-1970) deaccessioned ca. 1990. Current holdings (45 reels only) transferred from agency, Apr. 2006; additional agency holdings (1930-1975) incomplete
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