RECORD HIGHLIGHTS
Massachusetts records are a tremendous resource. "Because of the excellent quality and abundance of its records, Massachusetts is, arguably, the best place from which to have ancestors," says David Dearborn, librarian at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Not everything is in print, though. Many genealogies, vital records, court documents and colonial documents appear in books or periodicals, but state and local repositories have manuscripts that await publication. Start your research by looking at print sources, then survey repositories for relevant unpublished material. The sheer abundance of records, combined with the fact that no single agency is responsible for all the records, means you'll need to be organized and methodical.