"The state secretary (since 1961 through a unit currently called the Commissions Section) attests to all commissions of office signed by the governor, administering the oath of office to and/or recording the name of these and other public appointees. Resolves 1780, Oct Sess, c 58 authorized the governor and council to appoint persons empowered to administer oaths of office to public officials receiving commissions, called commissioners to qualify civil officers, dedimus justices, or, more recently, commissioners to qualify public officers. Series consists of a register, compiled probably in the early twentieth century, that serves as an index of commissioners to qualify civil officers."