Public Records
As Director of Public Records, Shawn Williams is the Records Access Officer for the City of Boston.
Under Massachusetts law, every person has a right to access public government records. Not all records are public, and you may need to pay a fee to get them.
Contact Shawn Williams if you have any questions, or if you need help getting records from the City of Boston.
Public records resources
ResourcesDepartment contacts
Contact: Christine O'Donnell
Cost of public records requests
City of Boston departments assume you would like electronic copies of records if we have them. The cost of black and white paper copies of documents is $.05 per page.
There is no cost for the first two hours of time we need to find records. After two hours, the fee is usually no more than $25.00 per hour. When we review a request, we will provide you an estimate of how much the research will cost.