The Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company Papers contain correspondence, financial records, legal papers, and shares of ownership for this shipping company and are divided into four series.

Series I. Correspondence includes both original letters and copies. The letters are to and from various people involved with the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company and the steamboat Massachusetts, including William Dodge (who was the builder), various individual shareholders, and a "corresponding committee," probably made up of some of the officers and/or shareholders of the company. The collection does not include correspondence between any two individuals, but there is overlap between senders and receivers. The letters cover the time period from the construction of the boat in 1816 to its sale and a settling of accounts in 1818.

Topics include discussion of the progress of the project (including financial details and concerns such as shareholding, accounts, and settling of bills), progress on building the engine, and progress on and difficulties with building the boat. Topics also include the acquisition of building supplies, insurance, and building debts, the possibility of building a second boat, and the intervention of the firm of P. Revere & Sons of Boston on behalf of William Dodge, builder. The sale of the boat, its loss, and plans for disposition of it, as well as court issues and the trial relating to the difficulties between the company and William Dodge are also included. Few of these topics are covered completely over the whole time period.

Series II. Financial Records include accounts of individuals with the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company, accounts the company had with individuals and with other companies, company accounts indicating cash received and disbursed, and receipts for payment for labor, supplies for work on the ship, ticket sales, food supplies, and pilotage in Boston and other harbors.

Some identify the steamboat Massachusetts or the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company by name, some refer only to "the steamboat," and a few name only one party to the transaction. Bills of sale of the company are with the legal papers.

The collection does not include the books of the company. The financial records it does include are probably quite incomplete.

Series III. Legal Papers include legal papers and copies relating to the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company. A copy of the act of incorporation, papers relating to legal disputes between William Dodge, the builder of the Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company, papers relating to agreements between Thomas Eayres, Paul Revere Jr. and Joseph Revere, and the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company, and bills of sale for the Massachusetts are included.

Series IV. Shares include certificates of share ownership in the Massachusetts Steam Navigation Company. Eliphalet Kimball, the treasurer, issued them all on 15 August 1817. Each certificate includes the name of the shareholder and the number of shares to which he is entitled. They are arranged in numerical order.