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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Scope and Content: The state secretary, as record keeper of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, maintained warrants issued by the treasurer and receiver-general for the collection of taxes from localities as apportioned and assessed by the General Court.  Fragmentary series includes two such warrants.
Notes: Formerly part of: Miscellaneous collection, box 108
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Scope and Content: St 1833, c 116 established the Western Railroad Corporation and authorized it to lay out and construct a railroad from the western termination of the Boston and Worcester Railroad to the western boundary of Massachusetts in the direction of the Hudson River.  The state secretary maintained the corporation’s filings for the Commonwealth.
Notes: Formerly known as: Miscellaneous collection, box 21
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Scope and Content: Correspondence to Gov. Samuel McCall regarding participation of Massachusetts in the federal military draft of 1917 was filed along with supporting documentation with the state secretary.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Series includes an 1818 agreement in which the Penobscot Indians released Penobscot River lands to the Commonwealth for payment and an 1820 release from payment on condition that the 1818 agreement be honored by the new state of Maine.
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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Scope and Content: Chronically insane male paupers were transferred from Massachusetts almshouses and lunatic hospitals in 1887 to an asylum opened at the State Workhouse in Bridgewater, renamed shortly thereafter the State Farm. Mentally infirm inmates from the State Prison were also admitted to the asylum beginning in 1890, and constituted the only admissions from 1894. The State Asylum for Insane Criminals was then officially established at the State Farm in 1895, and was renamed Bridgewater State Hospital in 1909. In 1919 the State Farm, including the State Hospital, was transferred from the State Board of Charity to the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons (later Dept. of Correction), although as of 1923 the Dept. of Mental Diseases (later Dept. of Mental Health) retained the power to commit non-criminal insane to the institution. The State Farm was reorganized in 1955 as Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. The State Hospital remained as a unit within the larger entity until 1987, when it was separated with its own superintendent.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients was established in 1895 and opened at Rutland in 1898.  It was successively renamed the Massachusetts State Sanatorium in 1900, Rutland State Sanatorium in 1910, Rutland Hospital in 1963, and after the move to a new facility, Rutland Heights Hospital in 1965.
Arrangement: Arranged by operation code no., thereunder chronologically
Restrictions: Public health hospital/clinic client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 111, s 70. For conditions of access consult repository
Notes: Transferred to Archives in Aug. 1982
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