About the Collection

Collection Description

The legislative collection details the original planning and laying out of the early town boundaries and property lines, and then progresses into the modern era, beginning on January 1, 1846, when Cambridge was incorporated as a city. After this date, the records document the development of the city’s present-day departments, boards, and committees as the city rapidly expanded its services, utilities, and technological developments to serve the ever-growing population. The legislative records span several departments and programs that supported residents in need across the city, ranging from infants to the elderly to those struggling with mental health issues and homelessness. The basic services of the city, as well as construction efforts, are well documented in this collection.

The legislative records collection spans 476 boxes and approximately over 250,000 records that will be released periodically as the Records Maintenance and Archives team is able to work through the batches of records. The collection is divided into smaller sections known as Series that represent the various departments, committees, boards, and commissions, as well as the Board of Aldermen, Common Council, City Council, and the Mayor’s Office. Prior to 1942, the City Council consisted of two parts: the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council, and after 1942, the City of Cambridge implemented the present-day structure of government. Each series identifies the individual records based on the type of document, known as a Record Type. These record identifications help to further describe what is taking place during that period. For instance, communications refer to letters or other correspondence between various departments, department heads, or between the public and government officials and staff. The chart below identifies some of the common record types found in the collections, along with a brief explanation for each record type. Each series contains a unique combination of record types so please check the record type metadata to learn more about the document you are viewing.

Record Type	Description
Appointments	Document the appointment of one or more individuals to one or more positions held within the city
Communications	Letters and other correspondence between city leadership, department leaders, the Mayor, and other government officials, or correspondence between members of the public or non-Cambridge public officials and Cambridge officials.
Roll Call/Voting Record	Typically seen as “Yeas and Nays,” these records document how council members voted on a particular issue.  Many of these records may have limited context.
Report	Usually a report from a committee or department to the city council, documenting the progress and final decision of an issue
Petition	Petitions from the (generally) public to the city council regarding specific town or city-related matters that may then go to vote with the Council
Special Assignment	These records document the progress of a special-topic issue at the time and are identified with this records type to denote a matter of significant importance.

Given the extent of the collection, researchers will find the metadata cross-references other records across the collection.  For instance, in the early years of the city’s history, the Mayor oftentimes made unilateral decisions regarding Human Resources-related matters, among other issues when addressed directly to his office.  One example of cross-referencing is the topic of fixing pay.  While the RMA team made every effort to organize these records so they reside in the specified department, some of these records may be found in the Mayor’s series.  Many legislative records and topics were handled by various departments and boards as part of the city council’s deliberations.   Whenever possible, the metadata reflects these other departments and cross-referenced themes by listing them in additional categories outside of the document’s keyword.   You will find cross-referenced topics under Search Terms, Claimant Name, Appointment Name, etc.  Review the metadata related to the documents in your search to learn more information held within the record.

Getting Started and Navigating the City Clerk’s Legislative Collection

Records Dated 1630 - 1916

The RMA team is slowly working on releasing records dated prior to 1916.  As records are published for these years, the City Clerk’s Office will publish the accompanying indices to help researchers text search the inventory and quickly identify records of interest.  

Records Dated 1916 - 2021

When you are ready to search the collection, begin by browsing the digitized Index Books.  These books hold a record of every document within the City Clerk’s legislative collection for the years 1916 to 2021.  The records are titled as “Series name_Year_Document number.”  For instance, if you find a record of interest in the 1971 Index under the section of Appointments, and it is numbered as 42, the corresponding document will be labelled “Appointments_1970_042.”  You may search by the document name or you may browse the collection by series and year.

Records dated 2021 to the present

If you need access to a record dated after 2021, please submit a records request via the Public Records portal, as listed on our home page.