In 1691, when the Plymouth colony was merged with the colony of Massachusetts Bay, it was voted “that the Books, Records and Files of the General Court of the late Colony of New Plymouth be committed to the care of the Clerk of the Inferior Court, to be kept and lodged in Plymouth.” These early records consist of eighteen manuscript volumes, in which may be traced the handwriting of Gov. Bradford, and Gov. Edward Winslow, as well as those of Nathaniel Morton and other Clerks of the Colony. They cover such matters as the proceedings of the General Court and Court of Assistants; Deeds; Wills and Inventories; Judicial Acts of the Court; Treasurers’ Accounts; Laws; and Births, Marriages, and Deaths. They begin with the year 1633. They are now deposited in the Plymouth Registry of Deeds, on Russell St. In 1820 a commission was chosen to copy such portions as they thought desirable, and these are kept in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth in the State House in Boston. In 1855, they were published by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony’s copy of the proceedings of the New England Confederacy, a federation of the New England colonies which in many ways foreshadowed our present Federal Union, is deposited in the Registry of Deeds. The New England Confederacy was undertaken in 1643 for mutual protection against the Indians, and was dissolved by the Royal Governor, Sir Edmund Andros in 1685. The early records of the Town, as distinct from the Colony, are kept by the Town Clerk in the Plymouth Town House. In 1889, the Records, from 1636 to 1783, were published by the order of the Town, and may be consulted in the Public Library and elsewhere. All these early records will repay the research of the student of American history. “But this must stand above all fame and zeal: The Pilgrim Fathers laid the ribs and keel. On their strong lines we base our social health-- The man--the home--the town--the Commonwealth.” --JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY Poem read at the dedication of the National Monument to the Forefathers August 1, 1889 [Illustration] The Pilgrim Society “This society was established in 1820 by the descendants of the first settlers at Plymouth and by such others as are desirous of perpetuating their principles, and commemorating their virtues, ... The stated meetings of the society are held in Pilgrim Hall, ...” --JAMES THATCHER, M.D. _History of Plymouth._ 1832. On the 9th of November, 1819, a meeting of a number of Plymouth gentlemen was held at the house of Mr. Joshua Thomas, “to take into consideration the expediency of forming a society to commemorate the landing of the Fathers in the town of Plymouth.”