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Get direct answers to your questions about City of Boston services, programs, and information. While we strive for accuracy by sourcing directly from Boston.gov, our search can occasionally provide unexpected results. You can help us improve by using the feedback buttons below each answer.

Questions? Contact us at digital@boston.gov.

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City Archives Digital Access Initiative

Through a variety of collaborations, we’ve scanned over two million pages of City records and over 20,000 City photographs to make them available to the public online. In addition, we have worked with various City departments to retain and maintain born-digital records created by City agencies.

The records of our City belong to the people of our City. Since 1989, the City Archives has worked to enable Bostonians to easily access the records that affect their daily lives and preserve the memory of their diverse communities.

Providing digital access to our records opens our City’s rich historic record to researchers of all types.  This not only includes traditional paper records, but also born-digital records. Born-digital records, or records that started in a digital format, require specialized skill and attention to ensure they are preserved for years to come - just like paper records. The City Archives staff has collaborated with various City departments to establish policies and procedures for the proper retention of these records.

  • Our partners
    • Family Search scanned all of the City’s tax records from 1822-1918, and some of the City's voter records.  This is work that has been done at no cost to the City.
    • Iron Mountain and Northeastern University worked with us to digitize letters sent to Mayor Thomas Menino’s office after the Boston Marathon Bombing, as well as a group of items from the makeshift Marathon Memorial in Copley Square.

Digital resources

Mayor John F. Collins with President John F. Kennedy
Archives and Records on Flickr

We are working on transferring all of our images to our digital repository, but you can still check out some of the 20,000 digitized photos of the City of Boston on our Flickr page.

Portion of letter from Mayor Josiah Quincy to Marquis de Lafayette
Digital records portal

Find all types of born-digital and digitized records in our digital records portal!

Image of City of Boston tax books
Search City tax records

We digitized the City's tax records and voter records in collaboration with Family Search.

Who's Involved:

Archives and Records Management
617-635-1195
  • Our partners
    • Family Search scanned all of the City’s tax records from 1822-1918, and some of the City's voter records.  This is work that has been done at no cost to the City.
    • Iron Mountain and Northeastern University worked with us to digitize letters sent to Mayor Thomas Menino’s office after the Boston Marathon Bombing, as well as a group of items from the makeshift Marathon Memorial in Copley Square.
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