by Chris Jones ·
Friday, February 6, 2026
The scale at the Harvard Historical Society includes brass weights weighing from 1 dram to 50 pounds. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
At the Harvard Historical Society, a large, wooden cabinet sits in a cool, spacious room, and when the doors of the cabinet are opened, a handsome precision scale and graduated brass weights are revealed.
The cabinet is a hidden gem; only, it’s not hidden. It’s actually one of many historical objects housed in the former Baptist church, and anyone can go see it.
The precision manufacturing firm, Howard and Davis, created this and 349 other weights and measures cabinets to satisfy the Massachusetts Standardization Act, more specifically known as “An Act Concerning Weights, Measures and Balances.” This piece of legislation, passed in 1848, required every city and town to possess and use the equipment inside the cabinet.
Judy Warner, administrative assistant at the HHS, wrote in an email that the cabinet’s scale was not so much to weigh things as to ensure that other scales used in town were accurate. Once a year, all residents with businesses using weights, measures, and balances were required by law to bring in their scales for adjustment to verify their accuracy. In essence, the cabinet’s equipment made sure that a pound of butter sold in Harvard weighed as much as a pound in Concord or Bedford or Bolton. This protected the consumer.
Steve Abrams, the president of the HHS, agreed: “[The cabinet] was a part of a much bigger movement in the 19th century which looked to standardize everything. It’s really allowing for fairness and having a trustworthy commerce. You can imagine what was going on at the time with people having their thumb on the proverbial scale.” It was about preventing fraud.
So ultimately, the unassuming cabinet was not important; it was the equipment inside. Once the cabinet’s scale and weights verified the accuracy of a business’s scale, that scale received a literal, physical seal—a stamp of approval. “It’s like a seal at a gas station. The seal confirms that the gallons you’re reading is what’s being pumped out. You know that when you’re paying for a gallon of gas, you’re getting a gallon of gas,” Abrams said.
Hence, there is a modern-day connection to the cabinet. In fact, Massachusetts towns that have over 20,000 residents must have an official individual with the title of town sealer. These sealers are responsible for testing, calibrating, and certifying commercial devices like gas pumps, grocery scales, and pharmacy balances to ensure consumer protection. All sealers must pass written and practical examinations administered by the state and participate in continuing education.
Being well under 20,000 residents, the town of Harvard is not required to have a sealer, but it used to have one. Arthur Bigelow, descendant of a long line of Harvard Bigelows, served as the town’s last sealer. According to “A Common History,” by Carlene Phillips, Bigelow ran a grocery/butcher shop at 1 Littleton Road and became town clerk in 1937, holding the position for 28 years, using his living room as his office. Currently, the commonwealth manages Harvard’s sealer duties.
As for the cabinets, towns phased them out and decommissioned them between 1919 and 1950, as commercial technology evolved. Now, sealers travel with their own field kits; however, some towns still used the cabinet as backup. Records from the town of Amherst indicate their cabinet remained “in use” for official paperwork purposes as late as 1979.
According to Abrams, “Howard and Davis were hired by the state to create a scale to measure other scales, and they had a reputation for making high quality stuff.” The scale is made from cast iron and brass, and the brass weights, weighing from 1 dram to 50 pounds, are all nickel-plated. By any measure, the whole set is impressive looking.
The scale resides in the museum of the Historical Society at 215 Still River Road, but remember it’s a museum so there’s no touching. Visitors can’t put their thumbs on the scale.