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Browser requirements | Printing | Use of the transcriptions and images

Browser requirements
This website makes extensive use of web standards design techniques. For best results please view using a standards-compliant browser. We test our pages on and recommend:
  • Firefox: available for free at firefox.com for Windows XP and Macintosh OS X 10.3 and later operating systems, and on most Unix flavors. Firefox is widely regarded by industry leaders and web developers as the safest, fastest, and most compatible web browser. The download is less than 8 MB in size, it installs without a restart, and will import bookmarks from Internet Explorer if you like.
  • Safari: available for free at apple.com/safari/download for Windows and Macintosh.
  • Opera: available for free at www.opera.com for Windows, Macintosh, and many Unix flavors.


What are web standards?
Think of web standards as the rules of the road in your town or city, without which it would be very hard to move around and get things down. The web browsers listed above follow those rules carefully, allowing web pages to work consistently for all users.

The World Wide Web Consortium (w3c.org) is an organization run by the inventors of the web which coloboratively defines and standardizes how web servers and browsers communicate. In their words they are "an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards."


Is the MHS web site standards compliant?
The Massachusetts Historical Society is in the process of making its website and digital collections compliant with W3C standards. The following areas of the website are currently W3C-compliant: Founding Families, The Coming of the American Revolution, and Massachusetts Maps.


Printing
The printer icon on the left side of the screen will remove the surrounding layout graphics leaving you with a printer-friendly version of the page.


Use of the transcriptions and images appearing on this website
The images presented as part of this website are to be used for study purposes only. Permission to reproduce images of manuscripts and/or publish transcriptions of collections must be obtained in writing from the Massachusetts Historical Society. For more information, please consult the Rights & Reproductions page, or Contact the Reference Librarian.

Reference Librarian
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215