Scope and Content: Massachusetts had claims on lands west of the Hudson River based on provisions of the Plymouth Colony (1620) and Massachusetts Bay (1629) charters, while New York had competing claims based on provisions of the 1664 charter from King Charles II to his brother, James, Duke of York.  After American independence, Congress urged that boundary lines and land disputes between Massachusetts and New York be settled.  After preliminary legislative study and negotiation with New York, Massachusetts petitioned Congress to adjudicate the western lands conflict (Resolves 1784, May Sess, c 1 (May 27, 1784)).  (For the boundary dispute see: Massachusetts. Commissioners to Ascertain the Boundary Line between Massachusetts and New York. Files on the Massachusetts-New York boundary, 1784-1787 ((M-Ar)2359X)) –After further negotiation among Congress, Massachusetts, and New York, the original idea of a federally constituted court to settle the dispute was abandoned, and the commissioners acknowledged and authorized by Massachusetts to prosecute its claims (St 1784, c 60 (Mar. 14, 1785)) agreed to a conference with their New York counterparts in Hartford beginning Nov. 30, 1786 (Governor’s Message, Resolves 1786, Sept Sess, c 95, Nov. 14, 1786) –The conference resulted in an agreement of Dec. 16, 1786 (Resolves 1786, Jan Sess, c 21 (Feb. 13, 1787)); text published between c 61 and c 62).  By this agreement New York was awarded total sovereignty over the disputed area, with Massachusetts retaining right of preemption to purchase such lands from the Indians. This right of preemption was sold to various third parties in the years following the agreement, as the Massachusetts treasury was in a depleted state because of debts incurred from the Revolutionary War and Shays’ Rebellion.  (See: Massachusetts. Treasury Office. Accounts of payments on bonds for New York lands–Brown purchase, 1788-1804 ((M-Ar)2398X); Gorham/Phelps purchase, 1788-1813 ((M-Ar)2466X); Morris purchase, 1790-1797 ((M-Ar)2467X). For a much later legal action stemming from the agreement see: Massachusetts. Attorney General. Rochester, N.Y., land claim hearing files, 1787-1926 ((M-Ar)1519X))
Restrictions: (1-2) restricted; access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: The Secretary of the Commonwealth is keeper of permanent public records of Massachusetts, including this series
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Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Public document, no. 46. –Reports for 1912-1913, 1920, 1941-1948, 1957-1958, 1960, 1962-1976, 1978 missing
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Scope and Content: St 1852, c 289 provided that justices of the peace in Massachusetts (those designated to try criminal cases called trial justices per St 1859, c 193) should provide returns with statistical and fiscal data for criminal cases tried, annually to the state secretary (police court justices  were likewise so required per St 1859, c 201), who was to make abstracts thereof for the General Court.  Per St 1881, c 66, such returns were to be made instead to the commissioners of prisons.  While this obligation continued, St 1905, c 321 mandated returns for civil cases to the state secretary by clerks of superior courts.  Criminal business was also included per St 1924, c 131.  St 1936, c 32 directed these returns instead to the Judicial Council.  Series includes returns/abstracts for part of the first and all of the second period when the state secretary received returns of criminal cases; for the latter, civil cases are included.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Returns  (2) Abstracts; __interfiled and arranged chronologically, thereunder by county/court
Notes: 1872 (Worcester County only, fragmentary), 1924, 1926-1935. — 1875-1880, 1924-1934. –Box 1: 1872-1880.  Box 2: 1924-1935
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Scope and Content: Per St 1843, c 75 and St 1850, c 31, county sheriffs of Massachusetts were required to make an annual return to the state secretary for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 of monies received from the county treasurer and all other sources, specifying amounts received for fees in civil and criminal process.  Also required in the return were number of days of attendance in each court, and before county commissioners.  Series consists of these returns as completed printed forms.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by year of return, thereunder alphabetically by county
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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. –Application certificates for passports were statements of identity signed by the applicant or sponsor, sworn before a notary or other public official, and filed with the state secretary.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Files for 1833, 1835-1848 lacking
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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 185, 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. These two application certificates “of colored going south” are certified statements of identity and citizenship regarding African-Americans traveling to the south of the United States.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: As part of its responsibility for the education and training of mentally retarded youth, the Commonwealth, pursuant to Resolves 1851, c 44, paid tuition costs for indigent families at the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded (known until 1883 as the Massachusetts  School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth.)  The school in turn was to admit, at no charge, thirty indigent children approved by the governor.  Applications filed by parents or guardians were forwarded to the governor for authorization upon recommendation by the secretary of the Board of Education.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 101
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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 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.  Upon application from the parent, guardian, or town official, the governor was required to determine twenty beneficiaries.  Applications to the governor requested authorization for beneficiary status.  The state secretary, acting as the governor’s secretary, maintained these filings.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 106
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Scope and Content: The Commonwealth, in order to fulfill its responsibility to provide education to its deaf residents, was required to pay tuition to the American Asylum in Hartford (Resolves 1819, c 60), to the Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes in Northampton, and to the Horace Mann School in Boston (Boston School for Deaf Mutes until 1887) (Resolves 1868, c 200) for students who qualified as state beneficiaries.  Applications for instruction certified that the student was deaf and in need of financial assistance.
Arrangement: Arranged by institution, thereunder chronologically
Notes: Some returns formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, boxes 84, 101, 106
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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. –Massachusetts passed a bounty law in 1801 (Resolves 1800, c 139, Mar. 5, 1801) granting payment of
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by resolve, thereunder alphabetically by applicant
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