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The Special Collections department includes items that need special care due to their age, fragility, or format. Holdings comprise rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, newspapers, tax valuations, architectural drawings, prints and photographs, scrapbooks, and souvenirs. The collection is particularly strong in nineteenth and twentieth-century city directories, maps, and atlases.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am -5:00pm
Closed: weekends and on Massachusetts legal holidays
Location: Room 55 in the West Wing basement of the State House
Phone: 617.727.2595
Fax: 617.727.5810
Mailing address: Room 341, State House, Boston, MA 02133
Email address: Special.Collections@state.ma.us |
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| Mission |
| The State Library's collecting strengths are showcased in its Special Collections department. Reflecting a variety of formats, the materials extend in time from the founding of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies to the present day and concentrate on Massachusetts history, government, and politics. |
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| Guidelines for Use |
All items in the Special Collections department are listed in the library's card and online catalogs. Many items, including those in non-book formats, can be found in the library's online catalog.
Special Collections materials do not circulate and must be used in the department's reading room. Staff members are on duty in the reading room to provide reference assistance in the use of collections. Users are asked to use extreme care in handling old and brittle items and are prohibited from bringing food and drink into the reading room. |
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| Architectural Plans |
The bulk of the collection, which dates from 1850 to 1995, comprises plans of the State House. Diagrams, floor plans, details, technical drawings, and landscape plans document the structural and physical changes to the State House as well as One Ashburton Place. A few plans of other state buildings and structures, such as the Massachusetts Zoological Society, Nashua River Reservoir, and Conway and Shelburne bridges also exist. Records for these ninety-one plans are in the online catalog.
Special Collections also possesses a collection, numbering 2500, of uncataloged plans of the State House and One Ashburton Place. A basic index, in spreadsheet form, of these plans is in the department.
Click to view a list of all 91 plans in the online catalog. If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search (for example by a locale), select either title or subject and enter text and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search". |
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| Audio and Videotapes |
The department is the repository for taped sessions of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (audio: Nov. 1984-Nov. 1987; video: Nov. 1987-present) and the Senate (video: 1993-present). An index to House and Senate sessions on videotape exists in rooms 55 and 341. A log listing speakers and business conducted during House sessions exists in Special Collections.
Selected hearings are available and can be searched in the library's online catalog. Videotapes of general interest are also included in the collection.
An unofficial source of information for sessions, the State House News Service covers both the House and Senate. Brief descriptions of business conducted during these sessions may be found in their online newsletter (access by subscription only).
Click to view a list of all videotapes in the online catalog (more than 330). If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search".
Guidelines for Checking Out or Requesting Duplicates of Videotapes
Videotapes of general interest can be borrowed by permanent state employees who have library cards. These videotapes are cataloged with a call number that looks like this: Special Coll. Videotape 1 or Videotape 1-1. Checkout forms need to be completed in the Special Collections department.
Permission to make copies of House session videotapes must be obtained in writing from the House Speaker's Office (617 722-2500). The House Clerk's Office will make a duplicate of the videotape. (House and Senate videotapes have the call number Videotape 2.)
Permission to make copies of Senate session videotapes must be approved by the Office of the Senate President (617 722-1500). A request form can be picked up in the Special Collections department. Once a form is signed by a representative in the Office of the Senate President, the library can release the tape to the Senate Broadcast Office for duplication.
For non-legislators, requests for copies of hearings must be made through a legislator's office. The legislator's office will then contact the House, which will arrange for the copy to be made. (Hearings have the prefix 2 in their call number. Example: Videotape 2-18.) |
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| Books and Pamphlets* |
The collection is strong in Massachusetts and New England history, politics, law, and biography. It includes a comprehensive selection of early printings of Massachusetts laws, legislative documents and journals, and other state documents.
Included within this collection is a complete, eight volume set of John James Audubon's The Birds of America, published in London between 1827 and 1838. Only 175-200 sets of the lavishly illustrated and large folios (each bird is represented life size, resulting in very large plates) were produced. In 1833, despite the protests of those who considered it a waste of taxpayer's money, $800 was appropriated by the legislature for the purchase of the set. Bills and receipts documenting the purchase of various volumes exist in the library's archives.
Not all books and pamphlets are in the library's online catalog. Less recent material can be accessed through a card catalog in the main library in room 341. |
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| Broadsides |
A broadside is a single-sheet printed document, usually eighteen to twenty inches high by fifteen or sixteen inches wide, that was suitable for posting on walls or carried, rolled up, to distant places.
The subject matter of broadsides is diverse, ranging from governmental proclamations and political election notices to songs, poems, and commercial advertisements. The collection contains materials ranging from the American Revolution to gubernatorial proclamations of the present day. The collection of 150 broadsides includes a series of Thanksgiving and Fast Day Proclamations dating from roughly 1763 to 1929.
Click to view a list of the approximately 150 broadsides in the online catalog. If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to the American Revolution), select either title or subject and enter "revolution" (no quotes) and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search". |
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| City/Town Directories and Voting Lists* |
The large collection dates from the first Boston directory of 1789 and covers most Massachusetts communities. The last Boston directory was published in 1981. Around this time directories for other Massachusetts cities and towns cease to be published, supplanted by the telephone book as a listing for a town's residents, businesses, organizations, and services. The collection is weak in recent publications. For more current street and voter lists, contact either the Boston Public Library (617.536.5400) or the town hall or public library of the community that is being researched.
Directories contain a list of persons, organized by last name, residing in a town or city. However, some directories (including "Blue Books") do have house guides, which contain listings by address and not individual. These guides, the majority of which are found in twentieth-century directories, are useful when looking for the residents of a particular address. A List of City Directories Containing A House Guide is in Special Collections and is now available online. Voting and street lists are also organized by street name. Many directories contain city maps that have been removed from their volumes and integrated into the map collection. The department's directory and voting lists' holdings are as follows: City directories and voting lists |
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| Manuscript Collections |
The Special Collections department holds records relating to Massachusetts government, history, and politics, including papers of former Massachusetts legislators and other political figures. Lois G. Pines, John E. McDonough, Shannon P. O'Brien, John F. Parker and Barbara E. Gray are some who have donated their papers.
House journals spanning the years 1715-1864 and Senate journals spanning 1780-1867 are also a part of the manuscript collection. Earlier and later journals are printed.
Tax valuations up to 1792, 1793 to 1860, biographical material on legislators, records of Massachusetts civic and political organizations, the State Library archives, as well as personal papers and correspondence may also be found here. Notable collections include: Col. Alfred S. Hartwell Papers (1862-1866), which contain photographs of black soldiers who served in the Civil War; Records of the Boston Female Asylum (1800-1866); Massachusetts School Reports and Returns (1838-1963); records of the Massachusetts Civic League (1897-1982); and the Alexander Parris Papers (1823-1851). Parris was a prominent Boston architect-engineer in the first half of the 19 th century.
The earliest material in the manuscript collection is a letter written in Salem in 1641, and William Bradford's hand-written account of the first years of the colony at Plymouth. The Pilgrims sailed from England on the Mayflower and arrived in Massachusetts in 1620. Bradford served as the colony's first governor. Later in life he wrote an account of the settlement from 1620 to 1646, titling it "Of Plimoth Plantation." The record is an invaluable source for the early history of Massachusetts and the United States. The manuscript contains a copy of the Mayflower Compact (the original copy, written on board the Mayflower, no longer exists) and a list of passengers who sailed on the vessel. The manuscript is not available for viewing by the general public. A facsimile of the manuscript is readily available to the public for research and genealogical purposes. On rare occasions, the State Library will grant scholars and direct descendants of William Bradford permission to view the original manuscript. Requests must be made in writing to the State Librarian and addressed to the State Library.
Manuscripts are divided into two distinct collections: Ms. Coll. and Manuscript. Manuscript tends to comprise older material. Ms. Coll. contains more contemporary material.
Click to view a list of the approximately 120 items under Ms. Coll. in the online catalog.
Click to view a list of the approximately 170 items under Manuscript in the online catalog.
If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to manuscripts about school returns), select either title or subject and enter "school returns" (no quotes) and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search". |
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| Maps and Atlases |
This broad historic collection covers most Massachusetts communities. It is particularly strong in 19th and 20th century commercial publications and in maps and views of Boston.
Particularly useful are the Sanborn fire insurance maps. Created originally for the fire insurance industry for risk assessment purposes, Sanborn maps contain highly detailed information on such building features as size and shape, construction details, roof type, occupancy, street addresses, and often date of construction. The maps in the collection date from the 1860s to roughly 1990.
The collection also includes panoramic maps (or bird's-eye views), railroad maps and profiles, county atlases, current and historic topographic maps, and printed maps issued by Massachusetts state agencies. In addition, maps from city directories (notably Boston) have been removed from their volumes and incorporated into the collection. Records for these maps are not in the online catalog. Speak with a staff member in Special Collections for more information about these holdings. Also of note: seventeenth-century atlases printed by Jan Jansson and Henry Hondius. In Special Collections, patrons may view 19th c. Beers atlases on CD-ROM for the following Massachusetts counties: Middlesex (1875), Hampden (1870), Worcester (1870), Essex (1872), Bristol (1871), Hampshire (1873), Berkshire (1876), and Franklin (1871).
Special Collections holds more than 430 atlases and 3400 maps, so browsing a list of holdings is not practical. Instead, it is best to search for items by keyword. For your convenience, click here to view all items in our department with the words map, atlas, plan or view in them. To limit this search further, click on the "Modify Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to find materials about Worcester), insert your cursor on the keyword line after the initial search terms and type "and Worcester", then click the "Search" button.
Please contact Special Collections staff (617.727.2595 or 2590) if you have difficulty finding a map or atlas. They are well versed in navigating the quirks of the library catalog. |
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| Newspapers and Periodicals* |
| The Special Collections department houses select 18th- and 19th-century Massachusetts newspapers, as well as periodicals of history and government from the 19th and 20th centuries. |
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| Photographs, Prints and Pictures |
The collection centers on the State House, including its construction and history, and on legislators and other political figures.
Of special interest is the Burrill File, an historic compendium of photographs, pamphlets, and ephemera about the State House, Massachusetts politicians, and various Massachusetts communities.
Photo albums of state Senate members exist for the 1870s, as do photographs of various legislators who served in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Also of interest is a large group of photographs of World War I veterans from Massachusetts. A well-known view of the State House can been seen in an 1829 lithograph by James Kidder showing Boston Common.
Click to view a list of all 142 photographs in the online catalog.
Click to view a list of all pictures in the online catalog.
If you wish to limit either of the above searches further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to pictures of the State House), select either title or subject and enter "State House" (no quotes necessary) and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search".
Click to combine photographs and pictures in one search. Please note that this search picks up most but not all items.
If you wish to limit this search further, click on the "Modify Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to pictures and photographs of the State House), select either title or subject and enter "State House" (no quotes necessary) and click "Resubmit Search". |
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| Scrapbooks |
The Special Collections Department holds 45 scrapbooks on a variety of events, topics and individuals -- from Calvin Coolidge to JFK -- dating from 1850 to 1985.
Click to view a list of all 45 scrapbooks in the online catalog. If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search, select either title or subject and enter text and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search". |
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| Souvenirs |
Sixty souvenir collections are part of Special Collections. Souvenirs include posters, programs, calendars, postage stamps, puzzles, mugs, t-shirts, and other artifacts. The items were produced primarily to commemorate a significant event, such as the anniversary of a town's founding, or to promote the work of a state agency or civic group. Included within the souvenir collection is a group of materials from programs and events held specifically in the State House.
Click to view a list of all souvenirs in the online catalog. If you wish to limit this search further, or sort the records by date, click on the "Limit Search" Button. To limit the search (for example, to souvenirs about Cambridge), select either title or subject and enter "Cambridge" (no quotes necessary) and click "Resubmit Search". To sort, click the "Sort Results by Year" box and "Resubmit Search". |
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