ArchivesSpace Public Interface

Scope and Contents

Every year since 1860 the Town of Southborough has published a Town Report. These annual reports contain information about town officials and appointments, and provide updates on the workings of each town department and committee. Throughout the 1850’s individual town departments also published annual reports; particularly the assessor and school committee.

Scope and Contents By definition a Chattel Mortgage is a loan used to purchase an item of movable personal property. They include a description of goods and chattels, the terms of agreement between parties concerned, names of vendor and vendee, place, amount, list of goods or chattels, amount paid, conditions and agreement of mortgages, payments, and signatures of vendors. Some volumes include an index listing vendors and vendees alphabetically, along with the year and page number.Chattel Mortgage...

Scope and Contents The town of Southborough separated from Marlborough in July 1727 after local residents petitioned the legislature to form a new town because it was too far a distance for them to travel to church. Prior to its incorporation the area had been named ‘Stoney Brook’ after a local stream.This collection includes the original citizen’s petition that brought about the formation of Southborough, and the Act of Settling and Town Line Records which formalized the boundaries between...

Scope and Contents

Over the years the Southborough Town Clerk’s Office has collected a variety of state and federal government publications which relate to its operations. This library includes materials collected by the town as early as 1799, and is chiefly composed of congressional reports and published laws.

Scope and Contents This collection includes listings of Southborough residents who were eligible to vote or serve on a jury from 1771-1947. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Massachusetts Law required the Selectmen in each town to prepare lists of persons who were qualified and eligible for Jury duty. In 1784 the legislature directed that these persons should be “of good moral character and qualified as the constitution directs, to vote”. In 1808 it was further stipulated that men over the age of seventy should...

Scope and Contents This collection is composed of records which relate to Southborough’s militia, and document the town's role in military conflicts from the Revolutionary War forward. There is considerable documentation relating to the Revolutionary War, including enlistment records and payment stubs for local men who served in the continental army. The town’s records relating to the Civil War are even more expansive and provide extraordinarily thorough accounts of local soldiers and their...

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 consists of three ledger books which provide a record of all tests and inspections conducted by the Sealer of Weights and Measures in the Town of Southborough from 1908-1940 and 1950-1965.

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

The St. Mark’s Club was a social organization in Southborough open to men over the age of 21. The club’s founding members included: George R. Hazard, Walter G. Mingo, Willard Simpson, David Lowe, William A. Gould, Albert F. Hyde, Charles W. Howard, Isaac Drew, Dana E. Brigham, Charles D. Fairbanks, Robert Newton, D. C. Nichols, and Charles S. Parker. This collection comprises one volume which contains meeting minutes and membership records along with a copy of the club’s bylaws.