Boland’s papers span more than thirty years in Congress in the House of Representatives for the 2nd District of Massachusetts. For much of his career he was the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and he also served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was involved in the Iran-Contra investigation in 1987. His congressional papers include legislative and committee files, constituent matters and issue mail, correspondence, campaign files, briefing binders, grant and project files, public relations materials, photographs, clippings, artifacts and ephemera, and audio and video recordings.

Boland was an extremely committed public servant for the 2nd District of Massachusetts. Much of his work involved responding to constituent issues and queries from business interests in his district. He worked on many urban development and planning projects in Springfield and fought unsuccessfully to prevent the closing of the Springfield Armory in the late 1960s. His legislative work was vast and he sponsored or co-sponsored many bills and resolutions throughout his career. He was also very involved and interested in the funding of space exploration and attended many events associated with NASA such as launches, splashdowns, and parties.