This collection consists of an accumulation of 49 single-sheet documents issuing from, or directed to, the various instruments of town government in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts, mostly during the 18th century. More than half the documents in the collection date from the years between 1718/9 and 1757; perhaps a half-dozen can be dated earlier than this. In only a few instances does more than one document relate to the same specific town action or issue. The types of actions to which the individual records pertain are very diverse, and would include land issues; the appointment of town officers; economic regulations and taxes; church affairs; Swansea's relations with neighboring towns; Swansea's relations with the colonial government; and improvements to the town infrastructure. Most of the records pertain to one or more of the following agencies of town government: 1) the Swansea board of selectmen; 2) Swansea town meetings; 3) the Swansea town proprietors; and 4) the town treasury. The most commonly encountered document type within the collection is the town meeting warrant (11), issued by the selectmen to a town constable to "notify and warn" all qualified residents to assemble in meeting for some specified purpose. Another document type issuing from the selectmen is the "warning out of town" (3), a warrant used as a first recourse against undesirables who had entered the community. There are also a number of petitions of varying purpose directed by townspeople to the Swansea selectmen, as well as several petitions from the selectmen to the governor of Massachusetts Bay. In addition to the town meeting warrants mentioned above, town meeting documents in the collection include several memoranda, with proceedings and/or records of voting. The half-dozen memoranda and other proprietors' meeting documents in the collection all ultimately pertain to the division of land. As for the town treasurer's records, the most interesting, perhaps, indicates expenses incurred in conducting a town lottery, for the rebuilding and maintenance of a bridge (1749/50).