Massachusetts Archives Collection

The Massachusetts Archives database serves as a searchable, descriptive index and catalog for documents from eighteen volumes of the Massachusetts Archives Collection. "The Massachusetts Archives Collection (also known as the "Felt Collection"), which includes original records of the governor, Council, General Court, secretary, and treasurer, is an important source of records for early Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. The Collection is unique in the quantity of seventeenth-century records it contains, and this richness continues throughout the eighteenth century, with voluminous amounts of Revolutionary era materials... Topics covered by the collection range from international affairs to local and individual concerns... focusing on Massachusetts's relations with London, other British colonies, the French colonial government in Canada, and the Indian nations in New England and New York. They document the prosecution of military actions and negotiations for peace. Treasury records, census schedules, tax lists, judicial actions, and legislative orders provide the opportunity to study the administrative functions of the colonial/provincial government." Various Native American covered topics throughout database, and available as an isolated subject within volumes 30-33. Very limited digital resources available. See website for full holdings and details on access to materials.