User:KathrynGZ/Sandbox

United States Massachusetts

= Massachusetts Research Guide =

Introduction to Massachusetts Research
This is a genealogical guide to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its state-level records. You will find help with state vital records, histories, church archives, newspaper collections, genealogical libraries, understanding the court system, military records, and immigration and naturalization records.

Biographies and Family Histories

 * Family histories

Newspapers
Newspapers were first published in Massachusetts in 1690. The Commonwealth has a rich history documented within these pages. Most all libraries have copies of their local newspapers and research / university libraries include more. There are two libraries whose collection rivals all others:


 * American Antiquarian Society, Worcester (see details below under Libraries), collects all things in print before 1876. They hold the largest single collection of original newspapers in the country.
 * Boston Public Library, Boston (see details below under Libraries), is the repository for Massachusetts part of the national effort to microfilm all known existing copies of newspapers called the Massachusetts Newspaper Program. For their holdings, see the online guide for newspapers.

Massachusetts History and Geography
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts entered the Union on February 6, 1788, as the sixth state. It is governed under its original constitution, which was adopted in 1780. Boston (also known as "The Hub" and "Beantown") became the capitol city of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632. It has served as the state capitol since 1780. For more information about the history of Massachusetts, see the Massachusetts History article.

Massachusetts is currently comprised of the following counties:

Click on a county in the map below to go to that county's page. Hover over a county to see its name. To see a larger version of the map, click here.

The following jurisdictions are now obsolete:

Research Tools and Resources

 * The Massachusetts GenWeb Project provides county information about formation date, parent county, county seat, bibliography, cemeteries, census, churches, towns, history, look ups, obituaries, queries, repositories, surname registry, and many Internet links.
 * County Creation Dates and Divisions showing dates they were created or renamed and counties created from older counties.
 * Massachusetts Genealogical Societies

Training and Help

 * Call or chat with an experienced researcher
 * Join a Facebook Group
 * Consult a Professional Genealogist

Help Wanted on the Massachusetts Wiki pages
In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need willing volunteers. You can help:


 * Expand county articles
 * Check links on pages
 * ...and more

Find more opportunities to help with the Massachusetts pages. To add your knowledge and help expand the wiki click here: