As part of its function to design, construct, and manage the Metropolitan Parks System, the Metropolitan Park Commission (1893-1919) maintained a record of its Board meetings, and was required to account for its activities and expenditures. --Records in this series include bound volumes of the minutes. The first five volumes are handwritten (1893-1901), and the remaining ones are typed. The individual volumes do not include an index. The minutes are indexed through a master card Index, arranged A-Z, by subject, that was maintained between 1893 and 1972 (including entries from the successor Metropolitan District Commission), and kept on file currently in the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. It should be noted that a typical item in the minutes will refer to a letter or a report that was submitted to the secretary as a background file to an item on the meeting agenda. Letters/reports for the 1893-1919 period are not extant. For a summary of the organizational history of the MPC, see its Report of the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners for 1919 (Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., 1920), pp. 15-20 (EN4.10/1318 (subseries)). Between 1893 and 1919, the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners held 1,551 meetings. The minutes and associated card index were maintained by the secretary of the commission. The MPC was abolished by St 1919, c 350, s 123, and was merged with the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (1901-1919) to create the Metropolitan District Commission (1919-2003).

Per Massachusetts St 1892, c 342 (June 2, 1892), a Preliminary Board of a Metropolitan Park Commission was established for one year. It was authorized to consider the advisability of laying out ample open spaces for the use of the public, in the towns and cities in the vicinity of Boston. The members of the board were appointed in July 1892, and it was organized that August. Sylvester Baxter (1850-1927) was appointed Secretary. The other members of the board included Charles Francis Adams (1835-1915), Chairman; William B. de las Casas (1857-1930); and Philip A. Chase (1834-1903); also Charles Eliot (1859-1897), its landscape architect consultant. The board issued its report in Jan. 1893 as H150. Per St 1893, c 407 (June 3, 1893), the Metropolitan Park Commission was established. Series is the record of handwritten minutes maintained by the board from the first meeting of Aug. 23, 1892, to the last meeting of Jan. 16, 1893. Discussion relates to tours of the metropolitan parks conducted by the board members to examine potential open spaces. There are also a typed transcript of the minutes and copies of newsclippings relating to Boston parks from the Boston Herald, 1892-1893.

Per Massachusetts St 1892, c 342 (June 2, 1892), a Preliminary Board of a Metropolitan Park Commission was established for one year. It was authorized to consider the advisability of laying out ample open spaces for the use of the public, in the towns and cities in the vicinity of Boston. The members of the board were appointed in July 1892, and it was organized that August. Sylvester Baxter (1850-1927) was appointed Secretary. The other members of the board included Charles Francis Adams (1835-1915), Chairman; William B. de las Casas (1857-1930); and Philip A. Chase (1834-1903); also Charles Eliot (1859-1897), its landscape architect consultant. The board issued its report in Jan. 1893 as H 150. Per St 1893, c 407 (June 3, 1893), the Metropolitan Park Commission was established. The board's secretary compiled and maintained newspaper scrapbooks. Series includes two volumes of newspaper scrapbooks that hold clippings from 83 newspapers (75 in Massachusetts); three journals (including Garden and Forest); legislative documents from the Massachusetts General Court; and a document from the Committee of the Citizens of Watertown for the Improvement of Charles River. Clippings document the work of the Preliminary Board, including the tours of its Board members and others visiting the proposed public open spaces and reservations, and advocating for the same through a state-managed parks agency. The legislative process, including public hearings, is also documented. Related documents: Preliminary Board minutes, 1892-1893 (EN4.10/2787X); Preliminary Board incoming correspondence to the Secretary, 1892-1893 (in process); Founder/commissioner portrait photographs (EN4.10/2791X). Also: Report, Jan. 1893 (1893 H 150) available at: https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/628075