Scope and Content: For a history of the project resulting in the publication of these atlases for Massachusetts by its Topographical Survey Commission and later by its Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners, see the agency history of the Topographical Survey Commission cited below; for survey data and files see record series of: Massachusetts. Topographical Survey Commission and: Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners of Massachusetts.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by municipality
Notes: Volume title-pages: Atlas of the boundaries of …. Cover titles: Boundary lines of …. Volumes numbered in cataloging 1-68 and appendix
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Scope and Content: The Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children conducted at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind from 1848 was incorporated by Massachusetts as the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in 1850.  It was renamed Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded in 1883 and Walter E. Fernald State School in 1925.
Arrangement: Arranged numerically in order of examination
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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 in two chronological segments, thereunder alphabetically by municipality
Notes: Box 1: 1963-1974 A-Wi  Box 2: 1963-1974 Wo; 1975-1983
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education (MACE) was established by St 1965, c 572, s 2 to recommend policies that would improve the performance of public education systems in the Commonwealth.  Through its director of research, the council coordinated and sponsored studies of educational issues, drawing on the expertise of individuals and organizations both inside and outside state government.  For one of its first projects, the council engaged Lindley J. Stiles to conduct a yearlong study of teacher education and certification.  The resulting report, Teacher certification and preparation in Massachusetts, led to the passage of the first performance-based teacher certification legislation in the country (St 1973, c 847).  Study files contain administrative materials and completed survey forms.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) Administrative files (2) Survey forms
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Scope and Content: The Executive Office of Consumer Affairs was established in 1969 as of 1971, and renamed Executive Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation in 1983.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by agency, thereunder chronologically
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Scope and Content: Series consists of newspaper morgue wire service dispatches, clippings, and photographs relating to incidents involving two members of the Thayer family of Massachusetts: (1) Webster Thayer, of Worcester, judge who presided over the trial for robbery and murder of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in Norfolk Superior Court, 1921, and whose home was bombed in 1932 as an aftermath of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927 (for State Police investigation files of the bombing see: Massachusetts. Division of State Police. Sacco and Vanzetti case file ((M-Ar)2084X))  (2) Oliver Alden Thayer, of Topsfield, who was charged with the murder of two relatives, 1937, and subsequently committed to an institution for the insane.
Notes: Transferred to Archives from Minneapolis Public Library, Special Collections Dept., May 2, 1997
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Scope and Content: As part of their function to care for and supervise the harbors and waterways of Massachusetts, the Division of Waterways of the Dept. of Public Works and predecessors in this function, the Division of Waterways and Public Lands of the Dept. of Public Works, 1919-1927, and the Dept. of Public Works as a whole, 1927-1938) employed engineers to make surveys of harbors and rivers.  Time and tide field notebboks were created by these surveyors to record changes in tides at established gauges.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically, thereunder by location of gauge
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Scope and Content: The Topographical Survey Commission was created in Massachusetts per Resolves 1884, c 72, and during its existence had a mandate to carry out two projects: preparation of a contour topographical map of the state in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey, and with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1884-1887) to produce a town boundary survey (the determination by triangulation of boundary lines of cities and towns) starting in 1885. Additional legislation was initiated to authorize the commission to resolve problems with the state boundaries with Rhode Island (Resolves 1897, c 88), New York (Resolves 1897, c 25), and Connecticut (Resolves 1898, c 39). –The Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners took over the town boundary surveys in 1901 and completed them in 1914. Beyond that date, the following agencies succeeded the board in its responsibility for state surveying: Commission on Waterways and Public Lands, in 1916; Division of Waterways and Public Lands of the Dept. of Public Works, in 1919; Dept. of  Public Works as a whole, in 1927; and the department’s Division of Waterways, in 1938. –Atlases were produced in conjunction with these projects. Resolves 1890, c 57 authorized the production of topographical maps from plates engraved by the U.S. Geological Survey, showing only geological features. Copies of: Atlas of Massachusetts. Boston : Topographical Survey Commission, 1890 ((M-Ar)1548X (original maps in: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Maps and plans (M-Ar) 50)) were distributed free to every public library and historical library in the state (Resolves 1891, c 95), and to public schools in every town (Resolves 1894, c 83). Atlases of town boundary lines ((M-Ar(421X)) were authorized per St 1897, c 69, and were published in batches, 1898-1915. As each atlas was published it was distributed free to towns, public libraries, and various other agencies per St 1900, c 360.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Box 1: Items 1-4. Box 2: Item 5. Box 3: Item 6
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Scope and Content: Successive committees of the House of Representatives were appointed to receive, examine, and pass upon accounts submitted for payment for purchases and services approved by the Revolutionary Massachusetts General Court.  From 1780, a joint standing committee of both houses of the Constitutional General Court (by at least 1782 known as the Committee on Accounts) performed the same function.  Approved accounts were forwarded to the Council (for concurrence as of 1776), which issued warrants for payment by the Treasury.  Series represents an accounting record for the period before 1786, at which time a settled procedure of account rolls (Account roll submissions ((M-Ar)9X); Account rolls (M-Ar)2268X)) was instituted.  It parallels a chronological set of accounts (Account journals, 1775-1786 ((M-Ar)2236X)), containing some but not necessarily all of the same data.
Arrangement: Arranged within each volume by county/town, thereunder by date
Notes: Label inside front cover, v. 1: “Accounts passed by the Courts Committee on Accounts since the Council undertook to record them at Watertown Dec 7th 1775 [i.e., per Resolves 1775-76, c 426] up to the 25th October 1780, the time when the new constitution took place.  Posted in this book to each respective town.  Also to sundry persons the towns not mentioned.”
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Scope and Content: To establish accurate Massachusetts town boundaries, and eventually interstate boundaries as well, beginning in 1885 the Topographical Survey Commission in conjunction with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (but replaced in this function in 1901 by the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners) sent out field teams to establish and describe triangulation stations and to set monuments designating boundary lines.  Additional legislation was initiated to authorize the commission to resolve problems with the state boundaries with Rhode Island (Resolves 1897, c 88), New York (Resolves 1897, c 25), and Connecticut (Resolves 1898, c 39). The Connecticut legislation (Mar. 29, 1898) specified that the commissioners were to investigate the condition of the boundary line and determine if remarking was necessary. St 1898 c 299 (Apr. 8, 1898), directed the Topographical Survey Commission to perform an inspection of all state boundary markers every five years, restoring or replacing as necessary. These working papers and reports were created to communicate findings and report progress made on the surveys.
Arrangement: Arranged by topic
Notes: Box 1: Items 1-9. Box 2: Item 10. Box 3: Item 11
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