Boston (Mass.). Fire Department

Scope and Contents note This series consists of loose leaf binders housing Appointment/Reinstatement forms used for documenting the appointments and/or reinstatements of Boston Fire Department staff. The documents include appointments after certification to become a fire fighter, emergency appointments, provisional appointments, reinstatements of employment following leaves of absence due to injury, illness, maternity and suspensions. Some retirement benefit requests forms are also included. In addition, 2 binders...

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Letters sent by the Mayor to all department heads. These volumes include the circular letters received by the Fire Commissioner.

Scope and Contents note The City Council Committee on the Fire Department records date from 1816-1844, bulk dates from 1831-1841. The collection contains fire department records and correspondence which document the transactions, personnel, activities and growth of the department from a subscription organization to a professional fire department. The original organization has been retained as much as possible, including the title Sundry Papers & Returns, which reflect the variety of the contents. The...

Scope and Contents note From the Collection: The City Council meeting and hearing transcripts span the years 1947-2015. This collection has been divided into 6 series: Series I - City Council debate; Series II - Committee hearing transcripts; Series III - Audiotape recordings; Series IV - Videotape recordings; Series V - DVD recordings; and Series VI - Digital recordings. Transcripts and recordings of City Council meetings and hearings are fairly complete from 1947-1970 and 1996-2015. There appears to be missing transcripts or...

Scope and Contents note From the Collection: The City Council meeting and hearing transcripts span the years 1947-2015. This collection has been divided into 6 series: Series I - City Council debate; Series II - Committee hearing transcripts; Series III - Audiotape recordings; Series IV - Videotape recordings; Series V - DVD recordings; and Series VI - Digital recordings. Transcripts and recordings of City Council meetings and hearings are fairly complete from 1947-1970 and 1996-2015. There appears to be missing transcripts or...

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Includes reports for accidents involving Fire Department vehicles from 1963-1989. Some photographs are included for major accidents.

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Log books of the circuits in fire alarm cables. These are the circuits (wires) that connect to all of the fire boxes in the area of Engine's firehouse. These circuits are also used for sounding alarms. Includes index at the front of the book with references to each specific cable box.

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Includes a set of Fire Alarm cards in use from 1960-1981 and a set that was in use in the 1950s as they are marked with updates in 1955. The Fire Department began using a card system for the fire alarm boxes in 1910. New sets were issued in 1910, 1921, 1929, 1960 and 1981. Includes a card for each fire alarm box in the City with information on the order of response and coverage of fire companies to alarms on the fire box. These sets were kept in each fire house in the City.

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The original photographs are on display at the Fire Alarm Division at 59 The Fenway. The photographs in this collection were digitized by a member of the Fire Alarm Division and the files were made available to the City of Boston Archives.

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House journals of the Fire Alarm Division located in the Fenway. House journals are daily logs that record calls received and response, members present and other functions of house.

Content Description

Administrative files of Superintendent of Fire Alarm circa 1930s-1970s

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This collection consists of chronological bound volumes of the proceedings of the mostly daily meetings of the Board of Fire Commissioners, as well as the proceedings of what later became a single Fire Commissioner. The Board of Fire Commissioners was abolished and replaced by a single Fire Commissioner on July 1, 1895. The minutes record the actions of the Board of Fire Commissioners and the single Fire Commissioner on issues involving personnel, supplies, equipment, etc.

Scope and Contents This series includes subjects files of the Fire Commissioner with the bulk of the files from the 1990s and early 2000s. Fire Commissioners during this period include, Commissioner Martin Pierce, Commissioner Paul Christian, Acting Commissioner Dennis DiMarzio, and Commissioner Roderick Fraser. This series also includes historical files, reports, photographs, etc. kept in the Commissioner's Office for reference purposes. The subject files when transferred to the Archives were arranged in...

Scope and Contents note This series consists of chronological bound volumes of correspondence and loose letters documenting the day to day business and activities of the office of the Board of Fire Commissioners, and later the Office of the Fire Commissioner. The letters, signed by the Fire Commissioner and other staff including the Clerk and Secretary, are addressed to various organizations and businesses, attorney’s offices, city departments, city council members, members of the state legislature, and private...

Scope and Contents Includes copies of annual reports for 1879, 1885-1890, 1945, 1969, 1971, 1982 and 2002; programs for Fire Department annual ball for 1973 and 2004; Constitution of the Charitable Association of the Boston Fire Department, 1835; Report of the Joint Special Committee appointed to inquire into the causes of recent fires in Boston, 1893; Boston Fire Prevention Code (Chapter 3 of the Ordinances of 1959), 1959 and 1979; and Rules and Regulations of the Fire Department, 1947, 1965 and 1997; and...

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Photographs documenting the administration of Mayor John F. Collins, 1960-1967.

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Small collection of 10 photographs donated to City Archives. Includes image of horse-drawn fire apparatus, undated; Fire Engine on Cambridge Street, undated; Engine 47 Fire Boat, 1948; Fire Department Banner on Washington Street, 1956; Fire on Brattle Street, 1959; 4 photographs of damage to North Station MTA, 1959; and Gil Jones and Fire Prevention Detail, 1961.

Scope and Contents note This series consists of oversized chronological log books of fire alarms received and responded to by the Boston Fire Department from 1880-1967. The location and existence of earlier volumes is unknown at this time. These log books may have been in use as early as 1852 when the fire alarm telegraph system was officially accepted by the City. It is believed that the department no longer recorded fire alarms in this format after 1967. The information recorded in the logs over time include the...

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General Orders sent out to all station houses by the Fire Commissioner concerning administrative and personnel issues.

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Station House journals of Engine 28/Ladder 10, 1942-2002 with gaps; Engine 32/Ladder 9, 1913-2006 with gaps; Engine 41/Ladder 14, 1941-1968 with gaps; and Engine 50, 1961-2000 with gaps. House journals record calls received and response, members present and other functions of house.

Scope and Contents note From the Collection: The City Council meeting and hearing transcripts span the years 1947-2015. This collection has been divided into 6 series: Series I - City Council debate; Series II - Committee hearing transcripts; Series III - Audiotape recordings; Series IV - Videotape recordings; Series V - DVD recordings; and Series VI - Digital recordings. Transcripts and recordings of City Council meetings and hearings are fairly complete from 1947-1970 and 1996-2015. There appears to be missing transcripts or...

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Registers recording names of firemen, engine company, date admitted and discharged. Beginning in 1837, compensation was given to firemen who served for six consecutive months with the same engine company.

Scope and Contents note This series consists of chronological bound volumes of letters (letters were later replaced by standardized forms) written by the City of Boston Fire Commissioner to the Mayor requesting approval for myriad personnel and financial matters. Approval requests regarding personnel matters include those for new hires, retirements, salary/wage increases, reinstatements, pension enrollments for widows, and pension allotments for those who were injured on the job. Some requests for vacation time for...