Scope and Content: Following St 1828, c 101, s 2 (1829), which directed trustees of agricultural societies of Massachusetts to offer premiums for cultivation of the white mulberry tree and culture of silk, the General Court passed successive laws authorizing payment of bounties by the Commonwealth to silk producers: St 1835, c 130 (for two years), for reeled or thrown silk; St 1836, c 206 (for seven years), additionally for cocoons; St 1839, c 59, limiting bounty to cocoons only; St 1845, c 199 (for three years).  Certificates on behalf of silk growers (subseries (1)) were filed with the state secretary by local justices of the peace (1835) or selectmen (1836).  Submissions were periodically audited and listed in rolls (subseries (2)) and redeemed by Treasury warrant as drawn by governor and council.  Certificates are present only for rolls 1-2, 1842 and rolls 1-2, 1843 (i.e., audit year)
Arrangement:  In two subseries: (1) Certificates, 1842-1843  (2) Account rolls, 1837- 1843, 1845-1848 (warrants 1840-1843, 1846-1850); arranged within each subseries chronologically
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 84
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Scope and Content: Even before the collapse of the Dominion of New England (Apr. 1689), which soon led to the de facto restoration of the government of the 1629 charter ((M-Ar)23X) in the Massachusetts Bay colony, Increase Mather was in England lobbying for an official restoration of that charter.  In fact, the charter signed by King William III (this series) in Oct. 1691 provided for royal appointment of governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary, the continuation of a General Court lower house elected by freeholders, but without religious test, and a Council serving both as an executive power and legislative upper house, chosen by the General Court. The governor could veto acts of the General Court, served as commander-in-chief, appointed judges with Council consent, and consented to General Court appointments.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the Secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts soldiers in the Revolutionary War faced shortages in clothing supplies. Various Massachusetts committees and agents were responsible for procurement of such supplies, a process that shifted to the Board of War in 1777.  Resolves 1777-78, c 897 (Mar. 13, 1778), directed the selectmen of each town to be in charge of collecting clothing items from their inhabitants. The selectmen were to provide a number of shirts, shoes, and stockings, based on one seventh of the male inhabitants above the age of sixteen. After the items were collected, an agent, selected by the Board of War from each county, transported and made an inventory of the items. Inventories include town name, selectmen, and prices charged. Once the selectmen were paid, they were to reimburse townspeople for supplies. Any selectman or agent who neglected to provide a return was to pay a thirty-pound fine. –Resolves 1778-79, c 79 (June 17,1778) appointed a new set of county agents and outlined new collection and payment procedures. Subsequent clothing collections were ordered per Resolves 1779-80, c 138 (June 21, 1779), Resolves 1779-80, c 1092 (May 4, 1780), and Resolves 1781, c 61 (June 22, 1781). Resolves of June 1778, June 1779, May 1780, and June 1781 all list the number of items each town was to send, and the county agents appointed to take the collections. Agents were directed to deliver all clothing to the Board of War in Boston, until the Board was disbanded per Resolves 1780, Jan 1781 Sess, c 62 (Feb. 8, 1781). Clothing was then sent to the Committee for Purchasing and Forwarding Small Stores.
Arrangement: Organized in three subseries: (1) Clothing returns, 1777-1784  (2) Caleb Hopkins clothing records, 1778-1780  (3) Clothing bills, 1777- 1782 (bulk 1781-1782)
Notes: The Massachusetts state secretary served as custodian of the state’s Revolutionary War records
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Scope and Content: Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, was commissioned in June 1697 by William III, King of England, as royal governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. He served in New York from Apr. 1698 until his death in Mar. 1701, and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from May 1699 to July 1700.  This virtually illegible document is presumed to be his royal commission as noted above.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes:  In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts. The parchment leaves are rolled, and tied together at the bottom in reverse order, with a wax seal appended
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Scope and Content: After the revocation of the 1629 Massachusetts Bay charter ((M-Ar)23X) by Charles II in 1684, his action was reaffirmed by the exemplification of judgment issued by his successor James II in 1685 ((M-Ar)24X).  In addition a commission from the king, arriving in Massachusetts in May 1686, designated Joseph Dudley as president of a provisional council governing Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Maine, Narragansett, and Plymouth. A succeeding commission (this series), dated 1686, named Sir Edmund Andros governor of this Dominion of New England; he arrived in December and soon extended control to Connecticut and Rhode Island as well.  In 1688, a new commission added New York and the Jerseys to the dominion.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts. Transferred to Archives from Massachusetts State Library, Mar. 13, 1972.  Presented by Henry L. Shattuck, 1930
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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. Various volumes contain entries with name of office holder, office (justice of peace, justice of sessions), residence (by county), date commission delivered and to whom delivered (post office, family member, office holder, etc). Some early volumes are arranged by date appointed, others by county, thereunder alphabetically by name and then by date. –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)
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Scope and Content: At the close of the Provincial Congress in July 1775, the governance of Massachusetts returned to a modified form of that set forth in the William and Mary charter of 1691. In 1777 the General Court drafted a constitution that was rejected by the voters in 1778 by a wide margin. On Feb. 19, 1779, voters were asked to approve a constitutional convention, which designated a committee headed by John Adams to produce a new draft. It was approved in summary by the convention in Mar. 1780; on June 16, after approval of each article by two-thirds of the town meetings, the constitution was declared ratified by the convention, and the new constitutional government began on Oct. 25, 1780. The document consists of a preamble, declaration of rights, and framework of government. A number of stated rights were found again in the federal constitution (including its Bill of Rights) of 1789.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: In keeping with traditions established in the colonial period, the secretary of state is the custodian of the foundation records of Massachusetts
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Scope and Content: The governor and council commissioned a survey of Massachusetts in 1830 in order to prepare an accurate map of the state (Resolves 1829, c 58). The survey had trigonometrical, astronomical, and geological components. Simeon Borden was superintendent in charge of the trigonometrical work, completed in 1838, and Robert Treat Paine performed the astronomical survey, 1831-1838. The geological survey, conducted by Edward Hitchcock from 1830-1832, was added by Resolves 1830, c 18, Resolves 1837, c 73, and Resolves 1841, c 14.  A preparatory step to the survey was legislation (Resolves 1829, c 50 (1830)) requiring towns to survey their territory and submit maps to the state secretary of the Commonwealth (see: Town plans–1830 (M-Ar)48X)) –The astronomical, trigonometrical, and geological information was ultimately incorporated into a state map; the work of projecting the map was done by Simeon Borden. Resolves 1841, c 43 authorized the contracting out of the engraving of plates, which was done by George G. Smith, and directed the closing of the survey office by Apr. 1842. Resolves 1843, c 70 authorized the governor and council to sell copyright of the state map for a period of ten years, repealed by Resolves 1844, c 69, which directed the secretary to seek a three-year contract for the publishing of the map, renewed for another three years by Resolves 1847, c 74. –Resolves 1845, c 9 authorized corrections to be made as needed to the printing plates. St 1846, c 241 directed the publication of county maps, with county officials directed to make corrections. Resolves 1852, c 39 authorized the state secretary to contract with Henry F. Walling for correcting and publication of county and state maps and Resolves 1857, c 82 allocated state contributions for corrections, and authorized the renewal of copyright. Further legislation renewing terms with Walling include Resolves 1859, c 50, providing for correction of the map as needed and safe-keeping of the plates, Resolves 1861 c 21, allowing him to take the plates for a printing by H. & C.T. Smith & Co. of New York, and St 1870, 192, authorizing copyright of corrections and modification of Walling’s contract accordingly.
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, boxes 55, 84
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Scope and Content: A perfect copy of the 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth, to have the same effect as the original (see: Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ((M-Ar)29X)), was authorized by Resolves 1894, c 58, at the suggestion of its custodian, the state secretary, who noted in his annual report of 1893 that fading ink was making some sections of the document barely visible.
Restrictions: Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
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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