Compiling a Legislative History: M.G.L. ch.6 §39B (Part 2)

Welcome back! Last week we learned that chapter 412 of the 1984 Acts created our beloved M.G.L. ch.6 §39B. This week we are going to investigate the origins of chapter 412 by tracing its bill history. 

As the guide indicates, once you’ve found the act, you need to find the original bill number. Full disclosure, my millennial-librarian-muscle-memory took over and I did what I normally do instead of following the steps spelled out in the guide (more on that later).

Strictly following the guide, the way to go about finding the bill number is to consult the Bulletin of Committee Work. There is a volume for each year from 1907 to 2000. We need the one from 1984 which fortunately falls within that time range. Unfortunately, this resource isn’t available digitally (yet), which means you will have to visit a library that has a copy. In the Bulletin, start with the section “Acts and Resolves Signed by the Governor” – this section is tacked on at the end of each volume. Heads up, these volumes don’t have tables of contents, nor do they have any uniform pagination because each volume is a bound collection of the individual bulletins (each with their own pagination) produced by each committee. At least the committee bulletins within the volumes are mercifully arranged in alphabetical order by committee name. [1]

Returning to the “Acts and Resolves Signed by the Governor” section (again, at the back of the Bulletin volume), you will need to look up the Act – in case it hasn’t been burned into your memory by now, ours is Chapter 412 of the Acts of 1984.

The entry for Chapter 412 of the Acts of 1984 gives us our bill number – House Bill 4279:

If that process sounds too tedious, you can do what I initially did: go to our online repository, type in the name of the act ("AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORDERLY DISTRIBUTION OF STATE PUBLICATIONS") in the search bar and scroll through the results until you find the bill that is closest in date to the act. However, the main reason to avoid this method is that it potentially increases the margin of error: bill names can vary from the name of the act, you might not select the right bill (especially if multiple iterations exist), etc. I will say that the benefit of doing it my way is that it can turn up the other versions or relatives of the bill – such as 1983 House Bill 5035 and 1983 House Bill 6295. Check out this past blog post on rejected bills which offers a good overview of why you should consider them in your research.

Once we have the bill number – now we can look up the bill in our digital repository (if you haven’t done so already).

Before we get to the actual text of House Bill 4279, it’s worthwhile to check the information below the Bill number. Here you can find the names of people and committee(s) involved in initiating the Bill. In this case, the committee is “State Administration.”

If you feel so inclined, you can go back to the Bulletin of Committee Work and consult the Committee on State Administration’s bulletin. Senate Bills are listed first, but since we know ours is a House Bill we can skip ahead to where the numbers start with an H and then look for H4279:

  
You can then repeat the process for the House Committee on Ways and Means. I’m not going to say that this is an unnecessary step; however, once you have the bill number, you can just look up the bill’s history in either the Legislative Record for 1984 (companion to the Bulletin of Committee Work of the same year) or the “Bill History” section of the Index volume of the 1984 Journal of House of Representatives. These provide a chronology all in one place and don’t require you to hop around looking up each committee and scanning for the bill number. Like the Bulletin of Committee Work, the Legislative Record isn’t online; however, the Journal is.

Bill History – Legislative Record:

 Bill History – House Journal:

Page 2468 of volume 3 of the 1984
Journal of the House of Representatives

The condensed information printed in both sources should be the same (it’s always best to double check though!). The abbreviations refer to dates as well as page numbers of either Journal of the House of Representatives (a.k.a., House Journals commonly abbreviated as HJ) or Journal of the Senate (a.k.a., Senate Journals commonly abbreviated as SJ). The first entry, for example: “1/9-HOUSE-Referred to the committee on State Administration -HJ462A” is another way of saying that in the House of Representatives referred this bill to the committee on State Administration on January 9th, 1984 and is noted on page 462A of 1984 House Journal. This glossary of legislative terms can be useful when trying to parse these entries. You can then check each citation in the House Journals and Senate Journals for 1984 to see if there is any additional information.

As explained in the blog post on rejected bills which I mentioned earlier, these histories only correspond to the bill as filed. They aren’t going to include anything before that (even if there were earlier attempts at getting this legislation passed). Depending on what questions you are hoping to answer through compiling this legislative history, you might need to go back to those other versions and repeat portions of this process (see this past blog post for additional tips).

We’ve now reached the “additional resources” part of the guide. I’m only going to spend time on one of these because they are a resource for which we get frequent requests despite the fact that the State Library does not collect them: legislative packets. The State Archives collects legislative packets. These packets contain whatever material is submitted with the passed act to the Archives and they can be extremely useful when trying to figure out legislative intent (what the researcher is usually after when compiling a legislative history); but be warned: these packets are a mixed bag – in any given packet there could be a useful material or there could be virtually nothing (regardless of how monumental the legislation was). The packet for Chapter 412 of the Acts of 1984 was only 15 pages – the text of the bill with some margin notes (mostly corrections) along with signed and dated forms for the various stages of the bill, e.g. verifying that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd readings had taken place.

I realize that this apparent roadblock isn’t the most inspiring way to conclude our search. Arguably we could continue by considering more of the additional sources listed in the guide, such as contemporary newspapers or journals. The bill histories gave us plenty of names and dates we could search. We could also check the Library’s collection of legislator’s papers and see if there are papers from any of the individuals who sponsored or were on the committees involved with the bill. [2]

The exact stopping point depends on the researcher (I don’t know about you but I’ve well beyond satisfied any possible curiosity I had regarding this law). It’s important to keep in mind that this was a fairly straightforward piece of legislation to research, and it still took up a good chunk of time and required outside resources. [3]

I hope this gives you some idea as to the amount of work that goes into compiling a legislative history.

Maryellen Larkin

Reference & Government Documents Librarian

[1] House Rules, Joint Rules, and Senate Rules are treated within the larger Committee on Rules and are organized respectively.
[2] Try not to confuse legislative packets held at the State Archives with the legislator’s papers held at the State Library’s Special Collections.
[3] A special thank you to the archivists at the State Archives for helping me find the legislative packet!

Collecting Legislative Papers

Ms. Collection 165

Here in the Special Collections Department, we’ve been diligently working with legislators on their paper donations. Collecting legislative papers is integral to the State Library’s work, as these records are valuable resources for documenting the General Court as a lawmaking institution and as a representative assembly. Working with scholars and legislative aides, our department identifies, preserves, and makes accessible historical material relating to the legislature and the political process in the Commonwealth. These primary source materials are used by historians, students, lawyers, journalists, and Massachusetts citizens to tell stories about citizenship and democracy.

Many questions from legislators have come to us recently regarding what specific materials they should retain. Legislative paper collections include any and all formats of materials and consist of records such as sponsored bills, notes from debates, committee and commission work, correspondence, diaries, call logs, campaign material, and more.

Pictured above is one example of the materials comprising legislative paper collections – notes from a committee meeting. This particular document comes from Ms. Collection 165: Denise Provost Papers on Legislation Concerning Gender Identity and Nondiscrimination, 1997-2017, bulk 2014-2016. It can be found in Series III: Steering Committee Meeting Materials, 2014-2016, which includes committee meeting notes, talking points, as well as lists of businesses and state legislators. Also included in the series are notes and invitations related to the Transgender Public Accommodations: A Conversation briefing held for legislators in July 2015.

Ms. Collection 168

Above are two examples of legislative paper materials at once– a photograph and correspondence. These come from Ms. Collection 168: Gloria L. Fox Papers, 1985-2016, bulk 1999-2013. The items pictured here can be found in Series II Subseries B: Health Legislation, 1996-2012. This subseries documents Gloria Fox’s work in healthcare legislation, in which her main focus was health disparities within ethnic and racial communities. Fox worked on legislation relating to lupus, a disease that disproportionately affects African American women, AIDS/HIV issues as they relate to the African American community, and recognition for community health workers. Records in the subseries include correspondence, memos, meeting agendas and minutes, conference materials, reports, and draft bills.

Currently, over 50 legislative paper collections have corresponding, searchable finding guides which you can access through our digital repository. If you are a legislator or you work for a legislator interested in donating materials to the Special Collections Department, you can find more information including how to contact us on the State Library website.

Alyssa Persson
Special Collections Processing Librarian

Compiling a Legislative History: M.G.L. ch.6 §39B (Part 1)

A common research request we get asked as librarians at the State Library involves tracking down legislative histories of specific laws. If you have ever asked one of us for the legislative history of a particular law, then you definitely have been directed to our Guide to Compiling a Massachusetts Legislative History. Understandably, you, the researcher, might find this a little frustrating – and we totally get it: you asked for a chair and instead have been handed an instruction manual for how to find the materials necessary for building a chair. The hard truth is that legislative histories aren’t pre-existing resources we have on hand; they must be made (ideally by the person researching the piece of legislation in question). Compiling a legislative history is no mean feat and, depending on the piece of legislation you’re researching, the paper trail can take you back several centuries (e.g., Acts and Resolves contain acts that date back to 1692). The onus falls on the researcher to track down every bill, act, and amendment related to the law in question.

Since I’m the type of learner who needs to be shown how something is done before I attempt it on my own, I thought it would be useful to demonstrate how to use the guide. Using M.G.L. ch.6 §39B as an example, I am going to guide you through compiling a legislative history, following the steps and advice as described in our guide and, when necessary, some of the Library’s past blog posts.[1] I have several reasons for doing this: (1) I want this law to be known more widely; (2) I want to show you what the librarians at the State Library do on a daily basis; (3) I want to demystify the MA legislative research process; and (4) I scheduled myself to write back-to-back blog posts and this seemed like a good two-parter.

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a lawyer; I cannot interpret the law or provide legal advice for others.

Reasons for why I’m choosing M.G.L. ch.6 §39B

If you read our January 2024 newsletter, chances are you noticed that 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of M.G.L. ch.6 §39B. M.G.L. ch.6 §39B, was and still is a significant piece of legislation for the State Library as it mandates all state agencies to submit copies of their published materials to the library.

The State Library serves two crucial roles in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It not only preserves the historic record of our government for future generations, but it also facilitates access to these documents for anyone to see – not just the legislature. Many of these materials are shelved in the stacks (for more information, see my last blog post), but many have been digitized and are accessible through the Library’s digital repository.

Researching M.G.L. ch.6 §39B Legislative History: The Beginning

To get us started, I’m going to need to fabricate a scenario. I’m also going to take the liberty of assuming that your first encounter with the General Laws will be via a computer and that you don’t have a physical copy of the text handy.

In this scenario, you were just merrily scrolling through the online General Laws and you came across a particular law, the text of which reads:

 

Obviously, you would do your due diligence and check it against the official version because technically, the online General Laws is not the official M.G.L. Those are printed every other year, the next being in 2024.

Just to drive home the point, the online M.G.L. puts this disclaimer on its website:

The topic of the digital version vs. the print version of the M.G.L. is the subject of another blog post which you can read about here.

With that step out of the way, the next one is to consult an annotated version of the General Laws. Again, the only official M.G.L. is the print version which I mentioned earlier; however, the official version doesn’t provide the contextual information that an annotated version does. You need both. The two popular annotated texts are published by Lexis and Thomson Reuters and are available on Lexis and Westlaw databases respectively. Thankfully, the Library subscribes to both Westlaw and Lexis (as well as many other databases) which are available on our public access computers (side note: the Trial Court Law Libraries also subscribe and provide access on their computers).

In the credit section of Westlaw’s M.G.L.A. it says: “Added by St.1984, c. 412, § 3” and in the history section of Lexis’s A.L.M. it says: “1984, 412, § 3.” What does that mean? Less work (hopefully) but more importantly, this is the citation to the Act that was codified as M.G.L. ch.6 §39B. The citation refers to chapter 412, section 3 of the 1984 Acts.

This is the point in a reference request where the librarian supplies the patron with a PDF from the relevant section of an annotated M.G.L. from Westlaw or Lexis and a link to the guide, and maybe some words of encouragement (e.g., “Good luck with your research!”). Therefore, it seems like a good stopping point for Part 1 of our adventure -- but worry not! Next week I’ll take you through some of the other resources listed in the guide that will lead us to the bill history behind St.1984, c. 412, § 3.


Maryellen Larkin

Government Documents & Reference Librarian


[1] Tips When Researching Legislation: Context through Visualizations (note: this article was written in 2020 when the State Library was closed to visitors – thankfully, we are open to the public again!) & Tips When Researching Legislation: Rejected Bills.

Woodpeckers Alight in the Library

As winter turns into spring, woodpeckers become very active and noisy, so in early April you may be woken up by the sound of them drumming outside of your window. Luckily, our displayed Audubon print is much less distracting, but just as striking, as the real thing. Our featured print is plate 66, the ivory-billed woodpecker. This print shows one male (with the red marking) and two females, caught in the act of stalking a grub and striping bark from a tree.

Woodpeckers are one of the earliest markers of spring, as they are busy drumming and drilling to communicate, attract mates, mark territory, and build nests. The Commonwealth has created an informational webpage on the woodpecker, and from there we learned that they begin nesting in April in the cavities that they have drummed into trees.

Visit us April 11 through May 9 to see the woodpecker (quietly) on display in our reading room.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Running Through History: The Story of the Boston Marathon

As the days become longer and the temperatures begin to warm, there is a renewed energy in New England. The Boston Marathon is just around the corner which makes for an exciting time in the city, in the Commonwealth, and in the running, wheelchair, and handcycling community around the world.

The Boston Marathon, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious marathons, has a history that spans over a century. Inaugurated on April 19, 1897, this iconic race has evolved from a local event to a global spectacle, leaving an unforgettable mark on the world of long-distance running. The Boston Marathon was also the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division competition when it officially recognized Bob Hall in 1975. This iconic race takes place on Patriots’ Day each April and it's a day that brings everyone together to celebrate the human spirit.

Photo courtesy of the Boston Athletic Association

Here at the State Library we have a collection of books about the Marathon. Recently I explored the stacks and came across a few titles that really stood out to me, and made me excited about this time of year. Browsing through these books, I saw a lot of the big names in the distance running world. I thought it would be interesting to tell part of the Marathon’s story through the lens of a few of these athletes.

Photo courtesy of The Boston Marathon: the incredible, zany story of
America’s greatest foot race and the men and women who have run in it

First up we have Kathrine Switzer. The Boston Marathon witnessed a groundbreaking moment in 1967 when Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially run the race. At the time, women were not allowed to participate, but Switzer registered using her initials, K.V. Switzer. Despite her efforts to blend in, race official Jock Semple attempted to forcibly remove her from the course. Switzer's determination prevailed and she completed the marathon, challenging gender norms and paving the way for future generations of female runners. Her courageous act not only marked a pivotal moment for women in sports, but also left a lasting imprint on the Boston Marathon, transforming it into a symbol of inclusivity and breaking barriers.

Photo courtesy of The Boston Marathon:
the incredible, zany story of America’s
 greatest foot race and the men and
women who have run in it

Alberto Salazar, an American long-distance runner, added his  name to the Boston Marathon’s history with a display of dedication and determination. In the 1982 race, Salazar engaged in a race day showdown with fellow runner, Dick Beardsley. The two athletes pushed each other to the limits in one of the closest and most memorable finishes in Boston Marathon history. The grueling race ended with Salazar securing victory by only two seconds, collapsing at the finish line in complete exhaustion. This iconic moment not only highlighted Salazar's perseverance, but also contributed to the marathon's reputation as a stage for remarkable athletic triumph.

More recently, in the midst of the unpredictable New England weather during the 2018 Boston Marathon, Des Linden, an accomplished American distance runner, found herself facing harsh conditions. Battling cold, wind, and rain, Linden showed her resilience. During the race, Linden slowed down to wait for a fellow American runner, Shalane Flanagan, encouraging her and demonstrating the camaraderie that defines the spirit of the Boston Marathon. Despite the challenging weather, Linden powered through, becoming the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. Her triumph not only showcased her determination, but also highlighted the sense of unity and support that defines the running community.

As a runner and someone who has lived in Boston for almost 15 years, this race holds a special place in my heart. I get the privilege of running this race next week and I’m still speechless at the thought of this opportunity. To run on a course that elite runners and recreational runners alike have stepped foot on for 127 years before me, fills me with a feeling you can’t explain. I was so happy to have found our collection of books about the Boston Marathon and wanted to share some of this race’s history with you.

If you have any questions about the history of the Boston Marathon or you’d like to take a closer look at some of the books mentioned here, don’t hesitate to reach out to us by email. 

Works Consulted:

• The Boston Marathon: the incredible, zany story of America’s greatest foot race and the men and women who have run in it by Joe Falls, 1977
• Boston: a century of running by Hal Higdon, 1995
• The Boston Marathon: 100 years of blood, sweat, and cheers by Tom Derderian, 1996
• Boston Marathon : the first century of the world's premier running event by Tom Derderian, 1996
• Choosing to Run: a memoir by Des Linden, 2023
• Boston Athletic Associations’ “History of the Boston Marathon”

Jessica Shrey
Legal Research Reference Librarian

State Library Newsletter - April Issue

We're not fooling, it's time for the April newsletter! April is both National Poetry Month and Earth Month, and in the State Library we have displays for both of those designations, plus a display for the upcoming Boston Marathon! Read all about those, along with our upcoming Author Talk, and more, in this month's newsletter.

Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.

On Display in the State Library - Poetry Month!

When you think of the State Library, a large poetry collection might not come to mind. And while poetry isn’t exactly one of our strongest collecting areas, we do have a respectable number, including some volumes that date from the 1700s and 1800s. This month, in celebration of April’s designation as Poetry Month, we’ve selected a few of those older volumes to share in our Collection Spotlight case. Visit us throughout the month to see The Boston Book, Being Specimens of Metropolitan Literature, The Waif: A Collection of Poems, and Astraea: The Balance of Illusion on display in our reading room.

National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets and held its first celebration in 1996. Through local events held throughout the country, displays within libraries and bookstores, and educational resources for schools, Poetry Month is a time to celebrate works of poetry (either already published or your own original creation) and the role of poets in society. In addition to the historical volumes displayed in our Collection Spotlight case, here at the State Library we are also sharing some contemporary publications, including the poetry winners from the Mass Book Awards, on the shelves when you first enter the library. Find more information about Poetry Month on the Academy’s website.

Within our Collection Spotlight case, you will find three volumes that date to the early-to-mid 1800s. The first is The Boston Book, which was published in Boston in 1837. This is the second in a series whose aim was to provide a compilation of examples of “the modern literature of the Metropolis of the North.” It is not entirely comprised of poetry, but is a mixture of essays, fiction, and poetry. We are displaying the volume open to the poem “New England” by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who was a Quaker poet born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Whittier was an abolitionist and is part of the group of poets referred to as the “fireside poets,” known for their themes of morality and domesticity, and the wide appeal of their topics, hence the whole family could gather around the fireplace to enjoy them together. In “New England” Whittier describes the landscape of his homeland in romanticized terms, like the stanza transcribed here: “Land of the forest and the rock – / Of dark blue lake and mighty river – / Of mountains reared aloft to mock / The storm’s career, the lightning’s shock – / My own green land forever!”

 
The Waif: A Collection of Poems was published in 1845 in Cambridge (MA) and was edited by Cambridge resident and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The volume begins with Longfellow’s poem “Proem” but it is a collection of primarily British poetry dating from the 1700s into the 1800s. Given the time of year, we’ve chosen to display the volume open to a poem titled “April” by an anonymous author. The poem describes April’s rainy tendencies, as well as the buds and blooms that burst forth as a result. One stanza reads, “I stood to hear – I love it well – / The rain’s continuous sound; / Small drops, but thick and fast they fell, / Down straight into the ground.” And another, “The very earth, the steamy air, / Is all with fragrance rife; / And grace and beauty everywhere / Are flushing into life.” We think this is an apt description of April’s weather!

Lastly, we are displaying Astraea: The Balance of Illusion, which is a poem by Massachusetts’ own Oliver Wendell Holmes. It was presented before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Yale College on August 14, 1850, and published by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields of Boston in the same year. Holmes (1809-1894) is known as a polymath, or someone who has a wide-ranging knowledge. Among his many accolades, he was a graduate of Harvard University, a physician, author, and poet. One of his poems is “Astraea,” whose title refers to the Greek goddess Astraea, who represents justice, purity, innocence, and precision. Some interpretations of this poem are that Holmes was reflecting on changing times and was reminiscent of an idealized past. Within its lines, we found a section that speaks on the changing seasons and the coming spring, which has a hopeful tone, “Winter is past; the heart of Nature warms / Beneath the wrecks of unresisted storms; / Doubtful at first, suspected more than seen, / The southern slopes are fringed with tender green; / On sheltered banks, beneath the dripping eaves, / Spring’s earliest nurslings spread their glowing leaves.”

Stop by the library from March 29 through April 25 to see these volumes on display, and for more Poetry Month reading, check out some of our past blog posts: Poets of the Commonwealth and Poetry for Boston.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Author Talk with Anna Du

• Microplastics and Me
• Wednesday, April 10th, 2024. 12pm - 1:00pm
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House
• Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series is excited to announce Anna Du as our April speaker! Anna is a student, environmental advocate, and top science fair winner!

Please join us on Wednesday, April 10th at noon, in our historic reading room to hear Anna Du discuss her book Microplastics and Me. We will also be livestreaming the talk on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services.

About the book: Anna Du is on a mission to solve the problem of plastics threatening our oceans and Earth. In Microplastics and Me, Anna recounts the challenging and rewarding process to design, engineer, test, and create a system to track microplastics polluting the ocean floor. Anna takes readers through the scientific process and along the way hopes to inspire her peers to go into STEM and take on global climate challenges.

About the author: Anna Du is a Massachusetts high school student. She has won many awards for her work in pollution prevention including placing first in the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair. Among her many accomplishments, Anna has been named a Top Ten Young Scientist in the US, by Discovery Education and 3M, her work featured in WGBH, Huffington Post, FOX 25 News, Fast Company and Smithsonian Magazine. For more on Anna, and her research, visit her site and check out her YouTube channel, Microplastics Girl, for more!

If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. Books will also be available to purchase; cash or Venmo accepted. As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

Want to stay up to date on future Author Talks at the State Library? Join our mailing list. Also follow us on Instagram, X, or Facebook for updates! For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.


Author Talks Working Group

Starting A Search in the State Library of Massachusetts Digital Collections

You may have noticed our digital repository once again has an updated look on our landing page. And a new name for our digital repository—the State Library of Massachusetts Digital Collections (SLM Digital Collections for short). Not to worry, nothing has changed with how things are organized so you can still find the documents and other items you need.

In a previous post, we learned about how to browse digital collections in our upgraded digital repository. Today we’re sharing some search tips to help you find what you need. While some of the functionality and appearance of our digital repository features changed significantly during the upgrade to the newest version of the platform, the searching functions remained the same. For patrons who interacted with the version of DSpace we used prior to the upgrade the steps for how to search will seem very familiar. And if this is your first time visiting the SLM Digital Collections, the instructions in this post can help you get started with searching the collections in SLM Digital Collections.

To perform a keyword search on specific collection or community, first go to front page and either type in a keyword or phrase into the basic search box.

Alternatively, you can click the white magnifying glass icon next to it. If you click the white magnifying glass without entering a keyword or phrase the search box, all of the documents in SLM Digital Collections will be returned in the search results.

You can also go directly to the search page by clicking the green magnifying glass in the upper right corner at the top of landing page. The search box next to it functions the same as the larger search box on the landing page. We recommend for searches with one keyword to use the small search box in the upper right corner. For searches with more than one keyword or an entire phrase, we recommend starting with the large search box on the landing page.

Once you are on the results page, you will see a search box at the top center of the page. Click on All of DSpace next to the search box at the top of the page and a pop-up window will appear for choosing to continue to search all of SLM Digital Collections or to narrow the search to a specific community or collection.

If you know the name of the community or collection, type into the pop-up search box part of or the entire name of a community or collection. A dropdown list of will appear and you can select the community or collection you want to perform a search in.

Only one community or collection can be chosen in the pop-up window; more than one community or collection cannot be selected in the pop-up window and need to be run as separate searches.

Now if you had already entered in a keyword or phrase before clicking the magnifying glass icon or pressing Enter, SLM Digital Collections will run the search again with your initial query. This time around it will narrow the results down to the specific community or collection you want to see documents in.

If you hadn’t already entered in a keyword or phrase, and only clicked the magnifying glass icon to get to the results page, enter it in the search box on the results page after selecting the specific community or collection you want to see specific documents in. When you are looking for a specific phrase and want to return documents that only contain a specific phrase be sure to use quotation marks around the phrase to get better results.

If you are feeling stuck at any point while searching for items in SLM Digital Collections, you can reach out to our reference department for assistance by email or by calling calling 617-927-2590. Or if you are visiting our reading room, come up to the reference desk and someone can help you.


Emily Crawford
Technical Services Librarian

The Hunt for Transcripts

When conducting a legislative history, researchers usually want transcripts - transcripts from public hearings, transcripts from the testimony given by experts, or transcripts from legislative sessions. Typed transcripts are ideal when trying to uncover intent, however in Massachusetts tracking down verbatim transcripts can be tricky. When a request comes in for a transcript, I usually like to preface that in the history of the General Court, there has never been an official transcriber. However, transcripts do exist and there have been recent advances when it comes to tracking down what was said on the floor or at a hearing, especially for more current legislation.

Before we look into the online resources and databases that are more conducive to researching the past 10-15 years or so, let’s look at the State Library’s catalog. The catalog encompasses the library’s Massachusetts specific collections. When looking for a transcript using the catalog, it is best to search using keywords rather than a bill number. For example, if you were researching 1882 Senate Bill 0220 An Act For The Preservation Of The Public Health In The Towns Bordering Upon The Blackstone River, And Of The Purity Of The Waters Of Said River regarding sewage pollution from Worcester - search the catalog by using keywords like ‘sewage’ and ‘Worcester.’ The catalog will pull up items like the following hearing transcript and testimony: The sewage of Worcester in its relation to the Blackstone River: hearings before the Joint Standing Committee on Public Health, on the matter of restraining the city of Worcester from polluting Blackstone River.

In a more contemporary example, if you were looking into bills relating to minority and women owned businesses in 1990, search the catalog using terms such as ‘discrimination’ and ‘hearing’ and you will get the following public hearing documents:

• Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination public hearing on discrimination against minority and women owned businesses: August 22, 1990

• Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination public hearing on discrimination against minority and women businesses: September 19, 1990, Scibelli Hall, Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts

These are just some examples of what exists in terms of transcripts and testimony in the State Library’s collections. It is important to note that if the item is available digitally, the catalog will link out directly to the item in the State Library’s digital repository. If the item is only available in print, please reach out to the Reference Department.

Now onto the best online resources for transcripts. With any legislative history, a good place to start is with the Massachusetts Legislature site. It may seem obvious, but the legislature's site provides a lot of information including bills, bill histories, Acts back to 1997, committee reports, recordings of sessions and special events, and more. You can find session and hearing recordings under the Hearing & Events tab; filter by date using the List view. If a recording is available, there will be a little video camera icon. Recordings from more recent sessions will sometimes include the Agenda, a listing of the bills discussed, links to motions such as roll call votes, and sometimes links to meeting documents. While the legislature site is just beginning to implement a transcript feature into the recordings, the next best place to look is MassTrac.

MassTrac is a bill tracking database. The database goes back to 1995, but is better suited for researching the mid-2000s to present. MassTrac has a Transcripts tab. You can search for committee hearings, floor debates, and special commission transcripts. You can also search by selecting the session year and by keyword searching. Once you have selected a recording, you can view it directly in MassTrac. MassTrac has a lot of great features for searching transcripts - after all hearings and sessions can go for hours. To make it easier on the researcher, you can keyword search within the video to bring you to the timestamp where that keyword was discussed or you can click on a word in the typed transcript to jump to it in the video! There is also the option to show/hide non-essential dialogue. MassTrac also provides access to written, submitted testimony and has the option print/download the transcript as a PDF. Masstrac is available to users in-library.

Last but not least is State House News Service. SHNS is an independent reporting service. Its online archive goes back to 1987. Its advanced search filter allows you to keyword search, narrow by date, and has options to search for articles, documents, images, and videos. SHNS service provides session roundups, coverage of hearings and events, and while not verbatim transcripts, these articles will provide direct quotes from legislators which is essential for legislative histories. State House News Service is available to users in-library.

Tracking down transcripts can be hard but always feel free to reach out to the Reference Department. We are here to provide guidance and help you navigate the resources and print collections.


April Pascucci
Legislative Reference Librarian

A Visit to the Mass Room

If you have ever searched our online catalog, you might have come across the shelving location “Mass Room.”

Image of catalog record for the Committee Report of the Massachusetts
Committee on Certification of Lawyer Specialization

Image of inside the Mass Room from
the State Library's Flickr account

The “Mass Room” is the section of our closed stacks that contains published Massachusetts government documents. “Mass Room” is a bit of a misnomer, as the “room” spans multiple floors within the stacks. If you get the chance to visit the library, you can catch a glimpse of the room behind the Reference Desk. A common question we get asked at the Reference Desk is whether that area is open to the public. Sadly, the answer is: no. Only library employees and interns are allowed to access the stacks (unless the State Librarian has given a visitor her expressed permission). Fortunately, for those of you with unquenchable curiosity, the librarians of years-past created an online exhibit that reveals a bit more of what it looks like back there. The photos from the exhibit are available on the Library’s Flickr account and can be accessed here.

“But what exactly are the ‘government documents’ you keep back there, and what is it like to browse the collection?” you might ask. According to M.G.L. ch.6 §39, the materials the Library collects are:

[A]ny document, study, rule, regulation, report, directory, pamphlet, brochure, periodical, newsletter, bibliography, microphotographic form, tape or disc recording, annual, biennial or special report, statistical compendium, or other printed material regardless of its format or manner of duplication, issued in the name of or at the request of any agency of the commonwealth or produced and issued as part of a contract entered into by any agency of the commonwealth regardless of the source of funding, provided they constitute ''public records'' as defined in clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four, excepting correspondence, blank forms, and university press publications.

The collection is massive and continues to grow. Inside the Mass room, the shelves are jam-packed with the reports, supplements, notices, plans, updates, proceedings, and projects of the various commissions, committees, task-forces, and other agencies that have been created, merged, renamed, or dissolved over the course of the Commonwealth's history.

The documents in the Mass Room are print materials, however, these can exist in a variety of formats, e.g., hardbound or soft bound volumes, binders of looseleaf pages, or even one-page leaflets which we store in envelopes. Everything is organized by its government agency and uses a unique call number system invented by the State Library (sorry, Dewey and LC fans!).

While a lot of our material is digitized and available in our online repository – many documents in the Mass Room remain in paper format only. Visitors are welcome to request to examine these items in our Reading Room at any time during our open hours 9:00am - 5:00pm (you don’t need an appointment, but advanced notice is ideal – you can email us).

Although it can be daunting, the size and complexity of this collection presents our reference librarians with an exciting challenge. Each reference request is an opportunity (for us and our patrons) to learn more about our collections. Often we don’t know we have a specific item or what format it’s in until a patron requests it!

Below are examples of some items you could find while wandering the floors of the Mass Room:

Report of the Commission to Investigate the Subject of the Cold Storage of Food and of Food Products Kept in Cold Storage (January, 1912) 

Initially, I grabbed this report thinking the title said, “Report on Cod Storage,” however, flipping through the report showed that the Commonwealth was concerned about time limits for storing food. I never knew that ammonia was the chemical of choice for refrigerating food.

Gas and Electric Light Commissioners Report (1885-91)

1900s technology made me curious about other groundbreaking technology, so I went further back in time and pulled this Gas Commissioner’s Report from 1890, which is part of a larger bound volume of the agency’s reports. In 1890 the electric lighting business was booming – although there was some skepticism as to whether it was as good as gas lighting. If you’re interested, you can read a full corporate history of gas and electric utilities here (it was compiled last year by the Dept. of Utilities).

Maryellen Larken

Government Documents & Reference Librarian

Bluebirds for Suffrage - on display in the Library!

For Women's History Month, our featured Audubon for March is plate 393, which shows the Townsend Warbler, Arctic Blue-bird, and Western Blue-bird. At first glance, the connection to women's history might not be obvious, did you know that suffragettes in Massachusetts used the bluebird as a symbol of their movement? The bluebird symbolizes cheer and hope, and was adopted by the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association in 1915. 

A referendum on women's suffrage was on the Massachusetts ballot in 1915, and July 17, 1915 (listed in some sources as July 19) was "Suffrage Blue Bird Day." On this mid-July date, over 100,000 tin bluebirds were pinned throughout the state to show support of the referendum granting women the right to vote. Though actual bluebirds are only six to eight inches long, these colorful blue and yellow tin bluebird signs were twelve inches long by 4 inches wide - a vibrant sign of solidarity for the women's movement! You can see an image of these bluebirds here. The date "Nov 2" at the bottom of the sign references when voters would head to the polls, where unfortunately the referendum failed. Women in Massachusetts did not receive the right to vote until five years later, when the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. 

Visit us from March 8 to April 4 to see these hopeful and cheerful birds on display, and happy Women's History Month!

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

On Display for Women's History Month

March is Women’s History Month, and in honor of that designation, our Collection Spotlight case features two items related to women’s suffrage. Visit us throughout the month to see “The Nonsense of It: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Woman Suffrage” and the 1917 edition of The Woman Suffrage Year Book on display in our reading room.

"The Nonsense Of It" was a circular published circa 1870 and written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911). Among his many roles, Higginson was an abolitionist, author, Unitarian minister, and for two years, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives representing the 1st Middlesex District. Beginning in the 1850s, he was also one of the leading male advocates for women’s suffrage. The displayed publication shows us a glimpse into his views. The circular is presented in a list format with 16 reasons why women should not vote, followed by Higginson’s rebuttal of those reasons. A few are transcribed below:

3. “The polls are not decent places for woman.” No place is decent from which women are excluded. Shall we exclude women from the railroad cars, because the smoking-car is apt to be a dirty place? When a man takes his wife daughters into the cars, their presence brings decency. It will be the same at the polls.

6. “Women would only vote as their husbands or fathers do.” Many women have no husbands and no living fathers. If they have, and vote as these men do, there will be no quarrel. If they vote differently – as they are very likely to do on questions of temperance, religion, and the right to control their own property or their own children, – then this objection falls to the ground.

10. “I should not wish to hear my wife speak in Town-meeting.” Nor would she like to hear you, unless you said something better worth saying than most of the talk against Woman Suffrage. But you are often willing to pay other men’s wives to sing in public, and if a woman may properly uplift to sing nonsense, why not to speak sense?

12. “Women are too busy to vote.” Why not say, “Men are too busy to vote?” Men are apt to claim that their own day’s work is harder than that of their wives.

This circular presents rather progressive views for the 1870s! And it is also important to note that women didn’t receive the right to vote until the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920, so this circular was produced fifty years prior to women achieving the right to vote. 

The other displayed item was published in 1917, only three years prior to 19th Amendment. Displayed together, these two items emphasize just how long it took for suffrage to pass. The Woman Suffrage Year Book was published by the National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company and was compiled to provide an accurate and up-to-date recording suffrage statistics. The yearbook is displayed open to the Massachusetts page in the section titled “The Progress of Woman Suffrage Measures in State Legislatures.” It tracks all of the suffrage measures from the first petition presented to the legislature in 1849 to the Suffrage Amendment being passed in the House and Senate in 1915 (before it was submitted to referendum and defeated).

These two items will be on display in our reading room through March 28. And while you’re here, be sure to check out the two other cases in the library that are displaying materials highlighting women’s history, including some resources related to the Irish “Mill Girls” of Lowell. And for even more women’s history content, check out this previous blog post on a 1900s pamphlet titled, “Why Women Should Vote.”

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

State Library Newsletter - March Issue

With the new month brings a new newsletter from the State Library! March is Women's Month, and our newsletter is full of information about the displays we have mounted to mark the occasion, along with information about our upcoming Author Talk. Read all about it in our newsletter, and then plan your visit. 

Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.

Author Talk with Susan Wilson

• Women and Children First: The Trailblazing Life of Susan Dimock, M.D. 
• Wednesday, March 6, 2024. 12:00pm - 1:00pm
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House
• Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series returns this March for our 2024 season. We are excited to host author Susan Wilson during Women’s History Month!

Please join us on Wednesday, March 6th at noon, in our historic reading room to hear Susan Wilson discuss her 2023 book, Women and Children First: The Trailblazing Life of Susan Dimock, M.D. We will be livestreaming the talk on our YouTube channel for anyone who cannot make it into the library, courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services

About the book: Women and Children First is the biography of Dr. Susan Dimock (1847-75). As the title notes, Dimock was a trailblazer for women in the medical field. Dimock was one of the first female physicians to treat women for their unique health care needs. Dimock became one of the first female surgeons in the country and was well known and respected for her skill. Dimock grew up in North Carolina, but would flee the south during the Civil War and would settle in Boston. Dimock studied medicine at the New England Hospital for Women and Children and at the University of Zurich.

About the author: Susan Wilson is a photographer, writer, and  multimedia artist. Wilson is a public historian with a passion for Boston history; Wilson serves as the official House Historian for Boston’s Omni Parker House and a Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center. Wilson holds a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa), M.A., and A.B.D. (All But Dissertation) in history from Tufts University. In addition to teaching history on both the secondary and college level, Wilson worked as a journalist and photojournalist, her work appearing regularly in the Boston Globe between 1978 and 1996. For more on Susan, her books, photography, and information on her Dimock Project, visit her site.

If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author as well as purchase a copy of Women and Children First. Books are $35.00; cash, check, and Venmo are accepted. As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. Any questions or concerns, please email us.

Want to stay up to date on future Author Talks at the State Library? Join our mailing list. Also follow us on Instagram, X, or Facebook for updates! For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.


Author Talks Working Group