MAYSVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Mason County Clerk Frances Cotterill and
her staff are sorting through history with the help of a $10,000
grant that's enabling them to preserve records dating back to 1789.
The documents that have been kept at the old Mason County
courthouse in northern Kentucky include settlement reports, deeds
and county court records, Cotterill told The Ledger Independent in
Maysville.
"There's so much history in them," Cotterill said. "You want
to make them available if you can."
The records will become more accessible to the public as
Cotterill and her staff organize and index them in acid-free
folders and boxes, then store them in the clerk's office.
The effort to catalog the records is possible through the grant
from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, the
newspaper reported.
The $10,000 grant is the second grant the clerk's office has
received to continue work preserving and managing local government
records, Cotterill said. It will be used to provide salary support
for the work.
"We are anxious to get these records in order so that they can
be accessed more easily and not just tucked away in boxes where no
one can use them," Cotterill said.
The Local Records Program provides grants to local agencies to
"protect vital records and make sure they are accessible to the
public," said KDLA Local Records Program Manager Jerry Carlton.
"It really is a good program," Cotterill said, noting that
many counties would not be able to focus on preservation work
without the grants.
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Information from: The Ledger Independent,
http://www.maysville-online.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-12-06-09 1309EST