Scope and Contents This collection contains lists of paupers and petitions for aid and support from impoverished townspeople, correspondence relating to the disposition of paupers, updates on their care, and the names of their benefactors. Expense books also document accounts of the Overseers of the Poor with various local merchants to purchase supplies necessary for the care of paupers, such as medicine, food, clothing, and equipment. Some statewide statistics relating to the care of the poor are also...

Scope and Contents This collection includes minutes, correspondence, and administrative records documenting the Board’s activities, along with copies of licenses and permits issued to both businesses and residents. Importantly, it includes a series of records pertaining to communicable diseases and public health threats in the town, which provides a detailed account of persons afflicted with Influenza during the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-1920. The majority of licenses relate to the production, sale, and...

Scope and Contents Massachusetts law, and the Commonwealth’s Voter Registration system, require each Town or City Clerk’s Office to confirm the identity of every person residing in town at the beginning of each year. To gather that information, town censuses are collected annually. Residents of all ages are included in the census regardless of whether they are registered to vote, or how long they have resided in the town.The Town Census is mailed to all known households in late January and the...

Scope and Contents For most of the 1700’s and 1800’s Town Meetings were recorded in a series of Volumes dubbed “Town Records”. In Southborought’s formative years these volumes were catch-alls for recording most local matters. In addition to including records of questions raised and decisions reached at town meetings, they document everything from land grants and property disputes to the election of town officers, and laying-out of new roads. Town Record Books from the late 19th century also include itemized...

Scope and Contents This collection includes birth, marriage, and death records recorded in the Town of Southborough in addition to marriage intentions, burial permits, and corrections and amendments made to vital records. The earliest vital records held in Southborough town date back to 1718 - nine years prior to the town’s separation from Marlborough in 1727. While the format of the records has changed numerous times over the years, there are no known gaps.Massachusetts state law requires town and...