Scope and Content: The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England received a royal charter in England, Mar. 1629. They sat as a General Court, from 1630 serving in the Massachusetts Bay colony as the governing body (along with an executive Council), until the revocation of the charter and imposition of a crown-appointed governor and council in 1686. Series constitutes their proceedings.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) General Court, including Court of Assistants (volumes 1-2, 4-5) (2) House of Deputies (volume 3); Arranged within each subseries chronologically by date of meeting.
Notes: By Thaddeus M. Harris, 1839, pursuant to agreement signed by Joseph B. Felt at request of state secretary John P. Bigelow. Bound and shelved as: Court records, volumes 1-5 (for volume list see: Massachusetts. Council. Legislative records ((M-Ar)1701X))
Related Catalog Records:
Proceedings of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay [Massachusetts General Court]
Memorial of Maine legislators supporting separation of Maine from Massachusetts [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: The Brunswick Convention met Sept. 30-Oct. 9, 1816, to consider separating the District of Maine from Massachusetts as a state. This memorial is a petition favoring separation filed with the General Court in Nov. 1816 by Maine senators and representatives.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by town
Notes: Formerly part of state secretary’s: Miscellaneous collection, box 17; Forms part of: Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Depositions from the Town of Lyman [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: The Brunswick Convention met Sept. 30-Oct. 9, 1816, to consider separating the District of Maine from Massachusetts as a state. A Sept. 2 vote of Maine inhabitants favoring separation, taken along with election of convention delegates, failed to produce the five-to-four pro-separation majority mandated by St 1816, c 41 for proceeding with the separation process. In dealing with this failure, pro-separation convention forces succeeded in having election returns of Lyman, Maine, ruled innvalid over allegations that separation supporters were identified and harrassed in open town meeting. These five depositions regarding the town meeting were taken and sent to the General Court in Nov. 1816.
Notes: Formerly part of state secretary’s: Miscellaneous collection, box 17; Forms part of: Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Petitions of 1819 from Maine towns supporting separation of Maine from Massachusetts [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: St 1819, c 161, an act to provide for separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts as a state, was instigated by petitions sent by Maine towns to the May 1819 session of the General Court. This series includes ca. 170 petitions constituting the large majority favoring such legislation.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by town
Notes: Removed from original papers for St 1819, c 161 (Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Passed acts ((M-Ar)229)) by N. Olsberg, Apr. 1979.; Forms part of : Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Petitions of 1819 from Maine towns opposing separation of Maine from Massachusetts [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: St 1819, c 161, an act to provide for separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts as a state, was instigated by petitions sent by Maine towns to the May 1819 session of the General Court. This series includes petitions opposing such legislation.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by town
Notes: Removed from original papers for St 1819, c 161 (Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Passed acts ((M-Ar)229)) by N. Olsberg, Apr. 1979.; Forms part of : Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Petitions from Maine towns protesting action of the Brunswick Convention [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: The Brunswick Convention met Sept. 30-Oct. 9, 1816, to consider separating the District of Maine from Massachusetts as a state. Although a Sept. 2 vote of Maine inhabitants taken along with election of convention delegates failed to produce the five-to-four pro-separation majority mandated by St 1816, c 41, convention leaders chose to regard the actual majority as sufficient to proceed with the separation process. Petitions are remonstrances sent by Maine towns to the General Court, Oct.-Dec. 1816, protesting actions of pro-separation convention delegates.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by town
Notes: Formerly part of state secretary’s: Miscellaneous collection, box 17; Forms part of: Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Petitions of 1816 from Maine towns supporting separation of Maine from Massachusetts [Massachusetts General Court]
Scope and Content: Petitions were sent by towns in the District of Maine to the Jan. 1816 session of the General Court requesting legislation to establish Maine as a separate state.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by county, thereunder alphabetically by town
Notes: Formerly part of state secretary’s: Miscellaneous collection, box 17; Forms part of: Separation of Maine papers
Related Catalog Records:
Report [Massachusetts Special Commission to Investigate and Study Educational Facilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts]
Scope and Content: The commission, consisting of Massachusetts General Court members and gubernatorial appointees, was established per Resolves 1962, c 108, as amended by Resolves 1963, c 118, and Resolves 1965, c 2, for the purpose of making an investigation and study of the laws of the Commonwealth pertaining to education, of the educational institutions of the Commonwealth and their organization, of the various school systems therein, and of the educational laws, programs, and school systems of other states, with a view to elevating educational standards in the Commonwealth, reorganizing the scope of various educational boards and administrators of the Commonwealth, revising and modernizing the organizational and financial structure of schools and school systems, extending the facilities, curricula, and educational goals of the schools and colleges of the Commonwealth, and providing increased financial aid for education.
Notes: Transferred to Archives by the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, July 2010. “June, 1965”
Related Catalog Records:
Record of the Committee for the Sale of Estates of Absentees in Suffolk County [Massachusetts General Court Committees for the Sale of Absentee Estates]
Scope and Content: Per St 1778-79, c 49 (May 1, 1779), the Massachusetts General Court authorized the confiscation and sale of absentee estates for the benefit of the government. Resolves 1778-79, c 312 (Sept. 23, 1779) appointed various county committees to sell at public auction estates confiscated from prominent Loyalists named in the resolve. County committee actions, reflected in resolves passed Oct. 1779-May 1780, included sales, suspended sales, leases, and receipts deposited into the Treasury. Some records for these committees are found in: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Massachusetts archives collection ((M-Ar)45X), v. 280. –Resolves 1780, Oct Sess, c 95 (Nov. 29, 1780) appointed committees for each county to take charge of absentee real estate and personal effects from the Committee of Sequestration and to sell the same at public auction. Resolves 1783, Jan 1784 Sess, c 132 (Mar. 16, 1784) suspended sales of absentee estates and directed the committees to settle their accounts by June 10. As the treaty ending the Revolutionary War prohibited further confiscations, St 1783 c 69 (Mar. 24, 1784) specified that any absentee property not already sold or claimed for debt should be returned to its original owner.
Arrangement: In two subseries: Journal; arranged chronologically, Ledger; arranged by estate, thereunder chronologically
Notes: Title derived from ledger title page; Cover title: Committee for Selling Absentees Estates in the County of Suffolk
Related Catalog Records:
Auction records of absentee estates [Massachusetts General Court Committee of Sequestration]
Scope and Content: In 1776 the Massachusetts General Court appointed a Committee of Sequestration to inventory, lease, and otherwise manage estates abandoned by Loyalists, primarily in Boston, and to forward their confiscated goods or proceeds from their auctioning to state authorities, until its charge was withdrawn in 1781. Two prominent Boston loyalist merchants, Lewis Deblois and Edward Lyde, left Massachusetts in 1776 and were considered absentees. Deblois left Boston with the British evacuation on March 17, 1776 and went to London. Lyde, born in Boston in 1725, later returned from England to New York in 1789, where he died in 1812. Both had their property and large inventories of goods seized and sold by the state and were ultimately listed in the act of banishment, St 1778-79, c 24 (Oct. 16, 1778). Series lists goods by lots sold. –Vol. 1, Deblois sales, are in small lots numbered 1-280, sold Nov. 24, 1777 to Jan. 9, 1778. Items include snuff and tobacco boxes, knives, candlesticks, necklaces, tools, buttons, books, bellows, kettles, locks, and flatirons, with price of each indicated. Each lot sold is marked paid and/or delivered, with buyer’s signature or name, and in some cases the town. –Vol. 2, Lyde sales, are in lots 281-543, sold Jan. 10 to Feb. 27, 1778. Items include bedsteads, chairs, tables and other furniture, knives, forks, and buckles. –For records of additional auctions, June-July 1777 and Mar. 10, 1778-Mar. 29, 1780, see: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Massachusetts archives collection ((M-Ar)45X), v. 280, p. 68 et seq. Here also are records of book sales held, Dec. 1777 and Mar. 1779, and receipts showing deposit of auction proceeds into the Treasury by the committee.
Arrangement: Arranged by estate
Related Catalog Records:
Meta
Search collections
Collection categories
Browse collections
