Editorial Method

Materials Included and Their Arrangement

The records printed in the present volume are from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, with the exception of the 1756 Almshouse Census and Inventory found among the Boston City Records in the special collections at the Boston Public Library. The eighteenth-century documents printed below are only a fraction of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s voluminous collection of Boston Overseers of the Poor, Records, 1733–1925, comprising 19 boxes of manuscripts and 15 corresponding reels of microfilm. The boards were removed from the volumes before they were purchased by the Society, thus titles and descriptive material were lost. Wear and tear along the edge of the manuscripts has resulted occasionally in the loss of some text. The disbound volumes were arranged by the Society. The editors have assigned names to the volumes, as designated below.

A complementary volume catalogued elsewhere within the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and chosen by the editors to be printed here is a thin volume of accounts kept by Overseer Samuel Whitwell for twenty-one years.

Textual Policy

The primary goal of the textual policy is to provide a readable text while striving faithfully to retain the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation of the original manuscripts. The character of the documents, many of which are tables, the many writers who kept the records, and the nature of the material itself (dominated by proper names) requires that the manuscripts be followed faithfully, with minimal expansion or insertion by the editor.

Spelling. The unnamed individuals who recorded the activities of the almshouse residents and the overseers possessed drastically varying degrees of spelling ability. Regardless of the level of standardization or consistency displayed by the writer, spelling is retained as written.

Capitalization. Capitalization is preserved as found in the original manuscripts. When the intent of the writer is unclear, modern practice is employed.

Punctuation. Punctuation is retained as written, except for the following conventionalizations. Superfluous dashes and suspension points at the end of lines have not been transcribed. The obvious omission of opening or closing parenthesis is silently corrected by supplying the missing partner. Commas employed as apostrophes have been modernized. Punctuation within monetary amounts is regularized by supplying a decimal point after pound, shilling, and dollar figures (£2. 5. 10). The virgule symbolizing shillings (15/) is retained; punctuation following the virgule has not been transcribed.

Abbreviations and contractions. Abbreviations and contractions along with their terminal punctuation are preserved as written. Superscript and subscript letters used to indicate contractions are brought to the line; if no terminal punctuation is employed in the manuscript a period is supplied. The macron or tilde (Hañah) used in on-the-line abbreviations is retained. The ampersand (&) and the tailed ℘ are preserved. The thorn (yt, ye) is always printed as “th.”

Interlineations. Interlined words or passages are silently brought to the line where indicated by the writer. A note is appended if clarification is necessary.

Missing and illegible matter. Missing and illegible matter is indicated by square brackets enclosing the conjectural reading (with a question mark appended if the reading is doubtful), or by suspension points if no reading can be given. If only a portion of a word is missing, it may be silently supplied when there is no doubt about the reading. When the missing or illegible matter amounts to more than one or two words, a footnote estimating its amount is attached.

Canceled matter. Words and phrases struck out by the writer are generally omitted unless the change is deemed significant. False starts, slips of the pen, and obvious repetitions of text are eliminated. Substantive cancellations are italicized and enclosed in angle brackets.

Editorial insertions. Editorial insertions are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

Format. Financial Register. Ruled lines separating the monthly entries have not been transcribed. The placement of the dateline and heading for each monthly entry has been regularized by placing the dateline flush right on the first line of the entry and the heading flush left on the following line. Each entry within the month is set flush left, if the entry extends beyond one typeset line, succeeding lines are indented.

Admissions Registers. The admissions records are presented in tables and brief notations. In both formats, ruled lines separating the entries have not been transcribed. Table headings are preserved as written at the start of the table in the original manuscripts. Unless the format of the table is changed (column order rearranged, or a new column of information added to the table) the headings at the top of each succeeding page in the original manuscripts have not been transcribed.

Almshouse admissions and discharges recorded in brief notations are irregularly spaced over the page in the original manuscripts. The format for these entries has been regularized as follows: 1. The date is placed on the first line, flush with the left margin. 2. Information on the individual is indented following the date and, if necessary, run into the next line of the entry. 3. If noted separately, the entity being charged for the admission (town or state) is placed flush with the right margin following the description of the admitee. 4. Overseers information is set flush left on one line. 5. Selectmen’s information is set flush left on one line. 6. Commas are inserted to separate proper names. 7. Braces grouping two or more lines of text in the original manuscript are placed at the end of line. Thus, an entry in the original manuscript that is written:

is rendered as:

Annotation. Annotation of the original manuscripts is limited to textual notes commenting on the appearance and physical description of the manuscript (for example, clarifying interlineations, identifying tears, or noting marginalia) and comparing variant copies of the text.

Guide to Editorial Apparatus