Public Records & Historic Archives

Where to Find Public Records

Our public records, documents and publications are kept in the Town's Public Records Portal. If you have searched the portal and still not found what you are looking for, consider sending us a Public Records Request; please search the records portal first.

Searching the Public Records Portal

Document Format
Documents in the Public Records Portal are mostly kept in PDF format.

Search Features

  • And - Returns documents that contain both words or phrases
  • Or - Returns documents that contain either or both words or phrases
  • Not - Returns documents that do not contain the specified word or phrase
  • Within - Returns documents that contain a word or phrase within a designated number of characters, sentences, or paragraphs of another word or phrase. Selecting "within" opens a sub-window where you enter additional information about the search
  • Fuzzy Search - Returns documents that contain the entered word or phrase, or words or phrases that are similar. You can enter additional information about how different the words or phrases are. This feature helps if the document has spelling errors, or if you are not sure of the correct name spelling.

Search Techniques

  • Quick Search: a simple search of the phrase typed in the Search Box. Quick Search searches text, document names, and associated fields and annotations.
  • To Search the Entire Repository, enter the search criteria in the Search box with Entire Repository selected from the drop-down then select Search.
  • To Search within a Folder, enter the search criteria in the Search box with Current Folder selected from the drop down, highlight the folder to be searched then select Search.

 Advanced Searches

  1. Select the Search button to open the Search Pane
  2. Select the type of Customize Search i.e., Text, Document/Folder Name, Within Folder, etc. from the drop down list
  3. For a Text Search, enter the phrase to be searched in the Search Box
  4. Select "Search"

For the different types of Advanced Searches you will be required to supply additional Search information; for example, a Document/Folder Name Search requires the user to specify the Document/Folder Name to be searched in addition to the text/phrase to be searched.

Other types of Advanced Searches are:

  • Field
  • Within Folder
  • Within Volume
  • Sticky Note
  • Creation Date
  • Modification Date
  • Electronic Documents
  • Has Pages
  • Relationship
  • Tags
  • Weblink Search

Helpful Hints for Searching Within the Committee Members Web Report

  • The report is alphabetical by Committee Name
  • Use the up and down arrows to page through data, or enter the specific page number sought and select "Go"
  • Data is not case sensitive

How to Search the Committee Members' Web Report

  1. Select "Committee Members" folder
  2. Select "Committee Members Web Report"
  3. To Browse this folder, double click to open it
  4. To Search within this folder, enter the Search Criteria in the Search Box with "Current Folder" selected from the drop-down and select "Search"
  5. Follow search procedures as outlined above for general searches

Public Records Law

View A Guide to Massachusetts Public Records Law (PDF) (March 2020).