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Government Information: State and Local

This guide will help you find federal, state, and city of Boston information online and in print

311

Boston 311 is an online and telephone platform which better enables residents of Boston to report non-emergency issues to City of Boston departments. It helps the City respond to the needs of its citizens in a much more timely manner, and aims to improve city operations and make city services much more transparent.

State and Municipal

Listed below are some of the most helpful links to state information. For statistics on Massachusetts, please see the statistics page in this guide. 

  • Mass.Gov – Official Website for the State of Massachusetts. It can be very helpful to use the A-Z topic portal and the list of state agencies portal to navigate your way around this site. 
  • Massachusetts Archives holds the official records created by Massachusetts state government. Holdings are organized by agency and date from 1629 to the present. Check out the guide to its collections.
  • Massachusetts General Court is the name for the state legislature (Massachusetts House and Senate). Use their site to find your state representative or senator, see status of bills, search for laws, and get information on the state budget. 
  • Massachusetts General Laws is the codification (subject arrangement) of state law.
  • Massachusetts State Library is the library for the state legislature, and is also open to the public. It is a comprehensive depository of state documents. Browse and access items that it has digitized here. 
  • Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries are located in the trial court building in each county, except for Suffolk County. They are open to the public. With a TCLL library card, you can use legal databases on site, and also borrow books from its circulating collections. Their website is one of the most useful resources available. 

Non-governmental agencies which produce information on Massachusetts include:

Historical city of Boston publications

  • Many official municipal publicationsCity of Boston Documents covering the years 1834-1970 (also known as the Collected City Documents) have been digitized and are available at the HathiTrust Digital Library site.  
  • Selected historical annual reports and other documents published by city of Boston departments have been digitized and are available here.

The library has made available an extensive collection of Boston Redevelopment Authority materials invaluable in researching the city’s economy and infrastructure over the last six decades. Approximately 4000 of the 5,000 titles in this collection have already been digitized. Please search the library’s catalog or talk with staff about this resource.

 

Listed below are links to useful city of Boston information. For statistical information on the city of Boston and its neighborhoods, see the Statistics tab on this guide.

Non-governmental agencies which produce information on the city of Boston include: