Did you know that the State Library is the repository for the annual reports of all the cities and towns in Massachusetts? Our collection spans over 300 towns and centuries of local history!
We love looking at the different covers! Check out this sample of reports from 2023 - pictured are the towns of Falmouth, Franklin, Chelmsford, Duxbury, and Egremont.
Town reports offer a snapshot of what life was like in that town during a specific year and are vital contributions to the Commonwealth’s historic record. Compare these two from the town of Chelmsford, issued a hundred years apart from one another! Pictured are
Town of Chelmsford Annual Town Report (2023) (top);
Annual Report for the Town of Chelmsford (1923) (bottom).
Want to know what was going on in your town 150 years ago? Visit the State Library to see them or visit our
digital repository where we have many of them digitized!
A special thank you to all the Town Clerks who have been submitting them!
Maryellen Larkin
Reference & Government Documents Librarian
