Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 8, § 20

In recognition of the place of the old provincial state house in Boston in the history and governance of the commonwealth and of the nation, it is hereby declared to be the intention of the general court to assist in maintaining and preserving it as an historic and patriotic memorial and in providing appropriate educational programs interpreting its importance and relevance to the current system of government in the commonwealth and nation for the citizens thereof, through the Bostonian Society, a charitable, non-profit corporation which was organized under the laws of the commonwealth in the year, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, for the purposes of promoting the study of the history of Boston and preserving its antiquities and which, for over one hundred years, has been responsible for maintaining the old state house as a museum and place of study.

For the purpose of maintaining the old provincial state house in Boston as an historic and patriotic memorial and of providing such appropriate educational programs interpreting its importance and relevance, there shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the commonwealth to the Bostonian Society, a charitable corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars annually.  The said society shall expend such funds in the furtherance of the above purposes and shall report annually to the governor and the general court as to the specific purposes for which they were expended.  The governor, the lieutenant-governor and members of the senate and house of representatives, for the time being, shall, upon presentation of the proper credentials, have free access to the old state house museum at all times, under the same regulations as may be provided by the by-laws of the society for the members thereof.