Scope and Content: Correspondence was created to develop and support policies of those holding the office of Insurance Commissioner, who were responsible for the regulation of insurance business in Massachusettts.  It is composed of two volumes in which outgoing and incoming correspondence and printed materials have been affixed in scrapbook fashion.
Arrangement: Arranged by subject, thereunder chronologically
Notes: These volumes were discovered after the agency moved to new quarters; no other correspondence has survived
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Scope and Content: The Land Lottery, created by the General Court in 1786 to accelerate the sale and settlement of public lands in the District of Maine, was commissioned to conduct a lottery for the twin purposes of raising revenues and distributing land in the Lincoln County area of Maine.  These files contain a potpourri of disparate communications made and received by the managers of the Land Lottery.  Included are letters, receipts, lists of ticket holders, copies of resolves, and updated draft reports of the managers to the General Court.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The special commission investigating the selection of an official state song was appointed in 1958 and reconstituted in 1961 and 1964.  Headed by Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops Orchestra, the commission ultimately recommended “All hail to Massachusetts,” by Arthur J. Marsh, adopted as the state song by St 1966, c 644.  Series was created to administer the commission’s activities, including corresponding with Marsh and others.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Transferred to Archives by Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives, from the papers of Arthur Fielder, 1983
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Scope and Content: Savings Bank Life Insurance (SBLI) was a state-regulated program for Massachusetts savings bank insurance departments conceived of and promoted by then Boston attorney and later Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.  St 1907, c 561, drafted by Brandeis, authorized savings banks incorporated in Massachusetts, under the auspices of the bank commissioner and the insurance commissioner, to establish insurance departments for the purpose of issuing life insurance policies.  The statute also established the General Insurance Guaranty Fund (GIGF) to provide protection for policy-holders. From 1919-1991 the program was run as the Division of Savings Bank Life Insurance, Dept. of Banking and Insurance.  It was supported successively by the Massachusetts Savings Insurance League (1906) and the Savings Bank Life Insurance Council (1938, incorporated 1947)
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts, September 18, 2001
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Scope and Content: When the Board of Harbor Commissioners was established in 1866, it appointed an advisory council made up of representatives from the U.S. Coast Survey and others, which issued reports to the board relating to the improvement, development, and protection of Massachusetts waterways.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: This series was created during processing
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Scope and Content: A survey of the Commonwealth was commissioned by the governor in 1830 to prepare an accurate map of Massachusetts.  Surveyors worked separately on the trigonometrical and astronomical phases of the project, with each surveyor corresponding directly with the governor.  The correspondence in this series served as a report on the progress of survey work and informed the governor of future work plans.
Arrangement: Arranged by correspondent, thereunder chronologically
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Scope and Content: The State Primary School, opened at the State Almshouse at Monson in 1866 and continuing after the almshouse’s closing in 1872 until 1895, provided lodging, instruction, and employment for dependent and neglected children under age sixteen without settlement in the Commonwealth and some juvenile offenders.  Inmates were placed out on trial (often subsequently indentured) with families (originally by school inspectors–St 1866, c 209, s 7; then by school trustees–St 1880, c 208, s 1) and periodically monitored by the visiting agent of the Board of State Charities (St 1869, c 453, s 2; St 1870, c 359, s 2–in which called State Visiting Agency) and from 1879 by the Division of Visiting, Dept. of Indoor Poor, State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (State Board of Lunacy and Charity from 1886).  These offices also visited and approved homes before placement (St 1869, c 453, s 3; St 1870, c 359, s 4). Series was created to administer such approval.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Vols. 2-4 formerly part of: Outgoing correspondence ((M-Ar)882X) Contents: Apr. 1882-Oct. 1883; Novolumes 1883-Jan. 1887; Feb. 1887-May 1891; May 1891-Apr. 1895
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Scope and Content: Pursuant to 1892, c 280, towns with increased summer residency could apply to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (known after 1909 as the Bureau of Statistics) for a special census of town residents for the purpose of obtaining temporary licenses for additional liquor stores.  Correspondence between the bureau and town clerks concerns the summer censuses taken in Lenox, Nahant, and Salisbury (1904-1919) and Hull in 1924 under the Division of the Census (Census Division) of the state secretary’s office.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by town, thereunder chronologically
Notes: Provenance of documents on Pullman strike unclear.  Records preserved by the Division of Statistics, Department of Labor and Industries
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Consumers’ Council was an independent state agency serving as public advocate for consumer interests from 1963 to 1981, advising on and representing consumer interests to the state government, promoting consumer education, and from 1970 overseeing the unit pricing of packaging in retail stores.  Correspondence files contain incoming and copies of outgoing letters and memorandums written for files of the executive secretary, chairman, and other staff, created in carrying out the responsibilities outlined above.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Governor’s Legal Office advises the governor on all matters of legal concern.  Correspondence files are created to record all correspondence prepared by the office.
Arrangement: In three subseries
Notes: Also known as: MSD 2/506-507
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