i Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 14 May '86 t 5

Special Room Will Save County's Paper History

By GREGG LAWSON COURT HOUSE - When the new county Records Room opens Monday, documents as old as 1690 will be protected by a new climate control and security system. Part of the 2, 500-squa refoot addition to the county Clerk's Office will be an archives room, where newspapers and documents pre-dating 1900 will be stored in acid-free boxes in a carefully controlled environment. According to county Clerk Angela F. Pulvino, this will help prevent valuable documents from deteriorating. Currently they are stored in a cage in the courthouse basement. The archives room was Pul vino's addition to the county courthouse renovation project. "If we were going to have a record room, I wanted an archival room to preserve books and records under archival conditions," she said. "We will do our very best to preserve our old books and records because they are historical. "This (Records Room) will be the history of Cape May County in one room." she added. "It's the most important room in the county to me because it is history." The archives room will be in the core of the Records Room and watch- , ed by a Clerk's employe to ensure nothing is stolen or damaged. The room will be open to the public, but more tightly guarded. "NOW EVERYTHING will be much more under control," said Ritar Wilson, a clerk's employe. "You will have to go to a receptionist first ant^ there will Rec Comm. Schedule DENNISVILLE - The meeting schedule for the Dennis Township Recreation Commission is as follows; the first Wednesday of every month, a closed caucus will be held 7 p.m. and the public meeting will begin at 7:30 p.nf"Meetings will be held at the Dennis Township Municipal Hall here. Commission members reserve the right to schedule unscheduled meetings with 48 hours prior notice. For any questions, call 861-5283 or 861-5788. xChocolate^ Q? Palate oj VILLAGE OT SHOPPE8 6S \pU of RIO GRANDE 4 j* 886-6700 pt

always be somebody there; you can't just stroll in. "When people come in, you don't know what they're going to do," she added. "You really have to have controls so people don't walk in and put something in their pocket and then walk out." Wilson said that many of the county's documents could fetch a good price if sold. "Some places, like colleges, have paid thousands of dollars for old papers, depending on whose signature is on them," Wilson said. "They're in their original state — that's \w hat makes them valuable. The archives room's climate will be controlled by a LiebeH Challenger 2 system, which maintains a 65-70-degree temperature and about 45-degree humidity. "If for some reason the unit should ever malfunction, and cannot make the necessary changes it senses are needed, then an alarm goes off and lets you know what the problem is," Wilson said. The rest of the Records Room has a regular climate system and is guarded by door alarms and two motion sensors. The oldest and most valuable records will be stored in the second level of the archives room ; the first , level will contain those that are infrequently used but still in demand, such as titles and deeds. ALSO ON THE first floor is a vault in case the county decides to store microfilm there. Currently, microfilm is stored beneath a Pennsylvania mountain. Marie Wilson, Rita's sister-in-law and another clerk's employe, said the archives room is virtually fireproof. "Nothing will burn," she said. "It's made of cement, the carpeting and paint are fireproof and the ceiling tiles will hold out for one hour before burning." Also, a ha Ion system will be installed in the archival room that will extinguish any fire. "If there ever is a fire, it immediately takes all the oxygen out of the room so the fire has nothing to feed on and can be extinguished without damaging the / records," Marie Wilson > said. But the system will not be a danger to visitors' and employes, she said. "There will be a warning and a certain amount of time to leave," she said. 1 "Also, it can be shut off before it starts." On Friday and Saturday, documents will be moved from the courthouse to the new building, and much of the archive material will be placed in the acid-free I boxes. "We're starting with the acid boxes and will put as . much as we can into I them," Rita Wilson said. "We don't have the money to put everything in them, . but we're working on it." ' In addition, the county is seeking a $4,000 grant from the state Historical ComisI sion for restoration, clean- ' ing and repair of books and documents that need it most. | Also, the Clerk's Office is I now in the process of having its old newspapers cleaned and put on >. microfilm. * ,

•WE ARE IN THE process of getting a computer in the archival room. ..mostly to keep track of the books, but we also will try to index them so we can find things right away," Rita Wilson said. The entrance to the new Records Room will be through the rear of the Clerk's Office, so people can park in the library parking lot and enter without going through the office. It is open MondayFriday, 8:30 a.m. -4:30 p.m. The room was designed by architect Edwin N. Howell and Associates of Ocean City and the construction was done by Arthur J. Ogren Inc. of Vineland. Among the items that will be stored in the archives are: • Various deeds and documents dating from the 1690s many of which refer to the English kings of then, William of Orange and Charles II. • A "Book of Earmarks" that records the notches and crops farmers used to distinguish their cows. It

includes pencil sketches of the animals. • Several • Commonplace" books. Jh which people collecteji unusual or interesting facts about subjects ranging from witch trials to gossip. Some are ■elaborately decorated with doodles. SINCE 1693. the Clerk has been keeper of records

for the county and clerk of the county court. In that year George Taylor was appointed first clerk. Pulvino was elected to her first term in 1972 and i apparently was the first to consider preserving and i storing the documents. • "One of the main things she's concerned with is ; keeping these things

because of their historical value." Rita Wilson said "This is one of the things about the County Clerk that is more or less left up to his or her discretion. "She's very interested in preserving history." Wilson added . ■"Mrs. Pulvino is really the first of the modern clerks to do anything about it."

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