Scope and Contents This collection contains 1,212 indentures that document the Overseers of the Poor of the City of Boston efforts to manage the children of the poor by placing them in house-holds where these children would have food, clothing, and shelter and receive a basic education in exchange for their labor. While the majority of the children were bound out to do housework, including knitting and sewing and farmwork, the indentures also document the kinds of trades that were open to young males in the...