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The Did You Know? section is designed to provide tips and research strategies and to highlight a particular type of genealogical tool or resource. The focus of this issue of Gateway Family Historian is Massachusetts’s resources. This time, we will look at the wealth of information contained in the collections of the Massachusetts Archives. The Massachusetts Archives is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. It is the repository for records generated by state government. Earliest holdings of the Archives date from 1628. The Archives is open weekdays 9 AM-5 PM, and Saturdays 9 AM- 3 PM (closed legal holidays). Archives staff can only do limited research, so answers to lengthy or complex questions will require either a visit to the Archives or hiring a professional researcher. The Archives holds Massachusetts city and town registration books for the period 1841-1910. These books contain lists of births, deaths, and marriages occurring in that place during the year in question. Index books covering five-year periods allow access to these records. The Archives also has a set of 328 numbered scrapbook volumes known as the Massachusetts Archives Collection. These volumes contain various governmental records for the time period 1629-1799. Most of the volumes have been microfilmed, most have a table of contents, and many have been indexed.Within the Archives building is a collection known as the Judicial Archives. It contains numerous types of Massachusetts court records, most pre-1900. Such records can include materials on wills, probates, naturalizations, divorces, and other types of legal proceedings. Before visiting, the re-searcher should call ahead to be sure the court records desired are held by the Judicial Archives, as some court records are still maintained by the court of origination.
Information on other materials in the Massachusetts Archives collections may be found on its website:
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The Archives also holds: