Scope and Content: Middlesex County was incorporated on May 10, 1643 (Mass Recs 2:38), continuing under successive governments of Massachusetts, most recently the Commonwealth (1780), as outlined in MGLA c 34.  Administrative powers and duties previously exercised at various times under the laws of the Commonwealth by the county courts of general sessions of the peace, county courts of common pleas, and circuit courts of common pleas, were assigned to commissioners in Middlesex and other counties, per St 1827, c 77 (1828).  The government of Middlesex County in this and other respects was abolished as of the effective date of St 1997, c 48 (approved July 11, 1997)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Cambridge Bridge Commission was established in 1898 to administer construction of a bridge spanning the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, to be known as the Cambridge (later Longfellow) Bridge.  Series was created to document bridge contracting by summarizing existing commission records.
Arrangement: Arranged by bridge part
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Scope and Content: The Charles River Basin Commission was established in 1903 to make examinations and plans for and to carry out the construction of a dam across the Charles River between and Cambridge and other construction and dredging related to the building of the dam.  To carry out these tasks, the commission contracted for construction, supplies, and equipment.
Arrangement: Arranged by contract number
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Scope and Content: The Board to Investigate the Subject of the Unemployed inquired into the subject of the unemployed in Massachusetts and measures for their relief by the Commonwealth and its municipalities.  To further its investigations the board conducted a survey of correctional institutions and businesses in Massachusetts to determine whether convict labor interfered with manufacturing interests (St 1894, c 238, s 2), as recorded in this series.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Prison returns (2) Manufacturer returns
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Scope and Content: The Division of Legal Medicine was established in 1956 to provide psychiatric services to courts and correctional institutions and to ensure that persons who came into contact with the criminal justice system received needed mental health care.  To fulfill this responsibility the division held clinics for incarcerated adults and children in correction and juvenile facilities as well as a clinic for paroled children and adults.  Connvict treatment case files were created to provide a record of the treatment and psychiatric evaluation of these persons.
Arrangement: Arranged by case no
Restrictions: Criminal offender record information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 6, ss 167-178. Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. Youth services client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 120, s 21. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: State oversight of treatment for drug abuse in Massachusetts was successively the responsibility of the Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Board, established 1963 in the Dept. of Public Health, and of the Division of Drug Rehabilitation, established 1969 in the department of the attorney general, transferred to the Dept. of Mental Health effective 1971, and then to the Dept. of Public Health, effective 1982.  In 1986 the division was merged with that department’s Division of Alcoholism to form (as of 1989) the Division of Substance Abuse Services.
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Scope and Content: Massachusetts Resolves 1846, c 117 appointed Commissioners on Idiocy to inquire on: the condition of idiots in the commonwealth and if anything can be done for them. The commission’s report, written by Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, led to the establishment by Resolves 1848, c 65 of the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, located at the Perkins Institution. The school was incorporated as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth (St 1850, c 150), located near Perkins in South Boston, with Howe serving as president until his death in 1876. It was renamed the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded by St 1883, c 239, reflecting the establishment of a separate asylum department for those beyond school age or not capable of being helped by the school’s instruction. Funds for the construction of a new facility in Waltham were provided by Resolves 1888, c 82, and occupation of the new site began in 1890, with the South Boston facility closing in 1892. St 1925, c 293 renamed the institution the Walter E. Fernald State School, in honor of the superintendent of the school, 1887-1924. A 2003 gubernatorial initiative to close the Fernald School (known as the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center since 1993) by 2007 was contested during the subsequent decade, until the institution was shut down permanently in Nov. 2014.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Contents: 1851-1891 1 volume  1891-1914 1 volume  1892-1944, 1944-1951, 1952-1960, 1961-1962 (typescript in file folders)
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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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Scope and Content: Under MGLA c 110B, s 2, any person who adopts and uses a trademark or label may file an application for its registration with the Commonwealth.  The state secretary’s office has held the responsibility for registration since the 19th century.  In the 1930s it was placed within the secretary’s Corporation Division (now known as the Corporations Division).  As part of the registration process, applicants are required to supply the division with facsimiles or copies of labels or trademarks in question.  Volumes in this series include samples of labels, trademarks, stamps, and forms of advertisement affixed to pages in order of registration.
Arrangement: Arranged by registration number
Restrictions: Restricted as fragile. Access by permission of state archivist or curator of Massachusetts Archives only
Notes: Numbers on spines are not consecutive and do not indicate missing volumes
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