...an annual record of the business of the Primary School Committee, with details of finances, appointments, number of children instructed, conditions and management of the schools; prefaced with an introductory history of the public schools of Boston from their beginnings as far back as 1635; records for the first 7 years of the organization were destroyed in a fire in 1825; the compiler has reconstructed that history from original manuscript papers and rare printed documents; since 1825 printed reports and documents in the city files are not included, the main object of the compiler being to preserve those relevant papers available only in manuscript or privately held printed copies; appendices include the final (7th) annual report of the School of Industry No. 1 for the Northern District 1819, a copy of the first rules and regulations adopted by the Primary School Committee (1820), a catalogue of the government and members of the Primary School Committee in chronological order of their service 1818-1855, a table of annual expenditures and statistics of the imtermediate schools for the half year ending January 31, 1854...