Massachusetts Historical Society

Collection Guides

Many of the Society's collection guides—narrative descriptions of the context, arrangement, and contents of manuscript, photograph, and other collections—are now available online, and more are added regularly. These guides explain a collection’s organizational scheme and assist researchers to locate specific material. Search our collection guides.

Subject Guides

Subject guides serve a different purpose. They bring together material from across MHS collections. Four highlight the lives and experiences of individuals traditionally overlooked or undervalued in the historical record. They describe items and collections related to African American history; Native American history; the history of sexuality, including LGBTQ+ populations; disability; and the history of the economically disenfranchised. These four subject guides—along with our list of presidential letters at the MHS—include links to available collection guides and/or catalog records, so researchers can easily begin requesting material.

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