1965-2017; bulk: 1988-2009
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The Massachusetts Moderators Association records are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@kllkj.net.
Abstract
This collection consists of records of the Massachusetts Moderators Association, including handbooks; manuals; educational resources; meeting minutes, agendas, and printouts; membership files; published works; voting, surveys, and reports on numerous topics; internal proceedings; governance; and audiovisual material that includes educational recordings.
Historical Sketch
The Massachusetts Moderators Association was formed in 1957. Prior to this, there was an Essex County Moderators Association that was formed in 1952-1953. In 1956, the president of the Essex Moderators Association and moderator of Amesbury, George Batchelder, invited fellow moderators from Middlesex County to meet with the Essex association. The meeting was held in the fall of that year. Those present voted to form a state-wide moderators association, adopted a constitution, and elected Batchelder as its first president.
The MMA provides resources, communication, and collaboration opportunities for town moderators in Massachusetts to strengthen town meeting conduct and procedures. It also acts as a resource to educate moderators, officials at the state and local levels, and the public on town meetings and the legislation and policies that guide their regulations, decisions, and actions.
Collection Description
The Massachusetts Moderators Association records consist mostly of printed material pertaining to educational resources, daily operations, work products, and published material. They include handbooks and manuals to guide town meeting sessions; other resources on procedures and legislation; meeting minutes, agendas, and handouts for annual meetings, Board of Directors meetings, and various committee meetings including the Executive Committee. Meeting material also includes minutes and printouts for numerous local town meetings. Material also includes membership lists and information; votes, reports, and surveys on various topics; workshop material; internal proceedings and governance; and some audiovisual material which includes educational recordings and MMA meetings.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Massachusetts Moderators Association, February 2023.
Processing Information
Prior to MHS' acquisition of the collection, it was arranged by Massachusetts Moderators Association archives intern Linda Woodland. Current arrangement maintains most of this order.
Restrictions on Access
The Massachusetts Moderators Association records are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@kllkj.net.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Expand allI. Handbooks and manuals, 1986-2009Digital Content
Arranged alphabetically.
This series contains resources on the legislation and procedures that guide a town meeting and the moderator's actions. It includes handbooks published by the MMA, research material on various issues, workshop material, educational media, guidelines on conducting specific aspects of town meetings, and meeting minutes and other meeting materials from numerous towns in Massachusetts.
Assorted legal cases, undated
Citizens' guides to town meetings, 1996, undated
Division of Local Services municipal calendar, 1995
Manual for new moderators, 1995
M.I.T. forum on electronic meetings, 2001
Moderators 102 workshop, 2000
Moderator's conduct, 1995-2003
Moderator handbook, 1998, 2002
New moderators workshop, 1997-2009
Preparation for town meeting, undated
Recording town meeting, 1986
Scope of article issues, 1998
Towns—Amherst, 1996, 1998
Towns—Arlington, 1999
Towns—Avon, undated
Towns—Belmont, 1997, 2000
Towns—Billerica, 1998
Towns—Boxborough, 2006
Towns—Brookline, 2006
Towns—Burlington, 1995
Towns—Concord, 1992-1998
Towns—Framingham, 1984
Towns—Granby, undated
Towns—Groton, 1996
Towns—Hamilton, 2000
Towns—Hanson, 1989
Towns—Hingham, 1993
Towns—Holden, 1996
Towns—Hopkinton, undated
Towns—Hull, undated
Towns—Huntington, 2005
Towns—Lee, 1994
Towns—Lexington, 2005
Towns—Medfield, 1991
Towns—Middleborough-Mashpee Wampanoag, 2007
Towns—Nantucket, undated
Towns—Natick, 1998
Towns—Needham, 1999
Towns—North Reading, 1995
Towns—Northborough, 1988
Towns—Petersham, undated
Towns—Provincetown, 1996, 1999
Towns—Shirley, 2006
Towns—Stoughton, 1992, 2009
Towns—Stow, 1998-2001
Towns—Walpole, 1997
Towns—Wareham, 1996
Towns—Wayland, 1995
Towns—Wellesley, 1987, 1996
Towns—West Bridgewater, 1998
Towns—Westborough, 1995, 1998
Towns—Westport, 1999
Towns—Winchester, 1994
Towns—Winthrop, 1995
Town Meeting 101 and Democracy New England Style (Master), 1999, 2001
VHS, running time: 00:51:03.Town Meeting and You, 2007
DVD, running time: 00:31:47.Town Meeting Time (2nd edition), 1999
3.5 inch floppy disk, 24 digital files (798 KB).Town Meeting Time, 1999-2007
CD-R, 114 digital files (10.5 MB).Town Meeting Time, Parliamentary Authority, and Robert's Rules approaches, 2004
Town Meeting Workshop, Westborough, Massachusetts, March 2002
VHS, running time: 01:10:34.Joe Harrington, moderator; Nancy Yendriga, clerk.
Voice of the People: The Representative Town Meeting, 2008
DVD, running time: 00:21:26.Workshop materials, 1994-2009
II. Association functions, 1965-2017Digital Content
Arranged alphabetically and chronologically.
This series contains material pertaining to the daily operations and internal proceedings of the MMA.
A. Meetings, 1969-2017Digital Content
2020 Committee, 2003
Annual meeting, 1969-1976
Annual meeting, 1989-1999
Annual meeting, 2000-2016
Annual meeting presentation—Anderson decision, 1998
Annual meeting presentation—Australian ballot, 2009
Annual meeting presentation—Arthur H. Mckinnon, 1971
Annual meeting presentation—Archives Committee, 2000-2003
Annual meeting presentation—Archives Committee samples, 1995, 2007
Board of Directors, 1990-2000
Board of Directors, 2005-2013
Calendar, 1996, 2001
Communications Committee, 1992, 1996
Executive Committee, 1986, 1994-1999
Executive Committee, 2000-2013
Legislative Committee, 1996-2005
Legislative Committee—correspondence, 1991-2000
Legislative Committee—documents, 1991-2000
Legislative Committee—legal, 1995-2000
Massachusetts Moderators Association meetings, 1997-1998
3.5 inch floppy disk, 9 digital files (230 KB).Includes Board of Directors, annual, and Executive Committee meetings.
Massachusetts Moderators Association meetings, 1999
3.5 inch floppy disk, 3 digital files (75.5 KB).Includes Board of Directors, annual, and Executive Committee meetings.
Nominating Committee, 1976, 1988-2009
Town Meeting Review Committee, 2017
B. Newsletters, 1981-2015
C. Members, 1965-2013
Committees, 1991-2007
Email list, 1997
Membership list, 1965-1984
Membership list, 1992-2009
Regional sub-groups, 2001
Representative town meeting, 1998-2007
Women moderators, 1997-2000
D. Operations, 1992-2013
Business arrangements, 1993-2013
By-laws, 1994-2006
Director's calendar, undated
Income/expenses, 1998-2001
Treasurer's reports, 1992-2009
III. Work products, 1962-2017
Arranged alphabetically.
This series contains material pertaining to printed and audiovisual works published by the MMA, reports, surveys, research on legislation and procedure changes, and the implementation of these changes.
Australian ballot, 1997
Distribution of Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law, 1984, 2001-2009
Distribution of Town Meeting and You (DVD), 2007
Legislative Committee—Community Preservation Act, 2001
Princeton Town Meeting Committee, 1997
Proposition 2 ½ survey, 1993
Proposals, 2009
Remote participation, 2016-2017
Report—Reconsideration of votes taken at town meeting, 1997
Report—Regional School District Finance Committee, 1997
Resolutions, 1995-1997
Survey—Town Meeting Time vs. Robert's Rules, 2004
Survey—Town meeting participation, H.4551, 1996
Survey—Town website, 2009
"The Town Meeting: Its Development as a Form of Government" by Joseph Harrington, Jr., 1975
Town Meeting Time updates, 2005-2007
Town meeting voice vote opinion, 1993
Town meeting studies, 1996-2006
IV. Newspapers and ephemera, 1988-2014
Arranged alphabetically.
Articles about town meetings, 1988-2014
Articles about moderators, 1993-2014
MMA car decals, undated
MMA membership cards, 1996
Obituaries, 1977-1996
Preferred Citation
Massachusetts Moderators Association records, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Organizations:
Subjects:
Materials Removed from the Collection
The following books have been removed from this collection:
Joseph F. Zimmerman, The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999)
Richard B. Johnson, Benjamin A. Trustman, and Charles Y. Wadsworth, Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law (Massachusetts Moderators Association, 1962)
Richard B. Johnson, Benjamin A. Trustman, and Charles Y. Wadsworth, Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law (Massachusetts Moderators Association, 1984)
Richard B. Johnson, Benjamin A. Trustman, and Charles Y. Wadsworth, Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law (Massachusetts Moderators Association, 2001)