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 Boston Lunatic Hospital was established as a municipal agency in 1839; it was renamed Boston Insane Hospital in 1897.  It was made a Massachusetts state agency under the name Boston State Hospital in 1908 and closed in 1981.
Arrangement: Arranged by inpatient registration no. (chronologically assigned)
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Scope and Content: The State Reform School was founded in 1847 and opened in 1848 at Westborough for the instruction, discipline, employment, and reform of male juvenile offenders in Massachusetts.  It was renamed the Lyman School for Boys in 1884 and closed in 1972.  Register gathered background information on each inmate upon commitment.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no./chronologically
Notes: Deposited in the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, May 7, 1976.  Transferred to Archives, November 11, 1982
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Scope and Content: The Nautical Branch of the State Reform School, known as the Massachusetts Nautical School from 1867, was authorized in 1859 and in operation in Boston and later New Bedford between 1860 and 1872.  Delinquent boys were instructed in seamanship and navigation, and if successful, transferred to outside shipping. Register documents students’ background, commitment to, and discharge from the institution.
Notes: Deposited in the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, May 7, 1976.  Transferred to Archives, November 11, 1982
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Scope and Content: The Reformatory Prison for Women was opened in Sherborn in 1877.  It was renamed the Reformatory for Women by St 1911, c 181, and because of a redrawn boundary line its fuller designation was changed from the Reformatory for Women at Sherborn to the Reformatory for Women at Framingham by St 1932, c 180, s 24.  Under St 1955, c 770 it received its current name, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. For conditions of access consult repository 
Notes: Spine title: Admission record
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Scope and Content: Fortifications at Castle Island, Boston Harbor, used since the 1640s for military and penal purposes, were rebuilt after being burned by evacuating British forces in 1776, and then manned by various militia troops, at times under the command of Paul Revere.  A military garrison consisting of a company of men was established there in 1779; the island became the site of a prison facility for Massachusetts in 1785. The prison housed long-term inmates until 1798, when they were transferred to other jails after Castle Island was ceded to federal authorities for military purposes.  Commitment registers were created to record inmates admitted to the facility.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives from MCI Walpole, 1981
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Scope and Content: The State Prison was opened in 1805 at Charlestown, Boston, as a successor to the prison on Castle Island.  During 1878-1884 the prison was closed and inmates kept at Concord.  With that exception, Charlestown remained the state prison until replaced by Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Walpole, 1955-1956.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. For conditions of access consult repository 
Notes: Transferred to Archives from MCI Walpole, 1981
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