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FY2008 Annual Report

Local Records Preservation Program

Missouri local governments generate records documenting the rights of citizens, government actions, and the history of the community. The mission of the Local Records Preservation Program is to assist local governments with the preservation of historical and vital records and recommend techniques for the efficient management of current records.

To that end, Local Records staff members work with local governments to:

These activities promote long-term public records management and improve public access to the records, preserve the social compact and ensure transparency of government activity.

The Local Records Program operates in three functional areas. Field archivists work directly with local officials in the areas of archival practice and records management. The grant program funds projects to preserve public records. The conservation staff provides professional preservation advice and conservation treatment. Selected professionals in these areas also serve on committees to advise the agency's Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative for planning access to collections statewide.

Local Field Archivists

Archivists sort and organize local records
Archivists sort and organize records in
local government office.

The core of the Local Records Program is on-site work conducted throughout the state by field archivists. These professionals advise, educate, and assist local records custodians in sound records management and archival practices.

The services of the Local Records archivists are free-of-charge to any tax-supported government entity in Missouri. Typically, archivists are requested when a local official decides to improve the organization of records, usually motivated by a desire to reclaim or maximize limited office space. Local Records archivists provide wide-ranging consultations that help local government offices gain intellectual and physical control of their records. Often, this involves sorting the records, disposing of those that are no longer needed and recommending strategies for microfilming and storage.

Records Consultations

In FY2008 archivists consulted with the following units of local government:

Inventories and Dispositions


LR Archivists identify and process local records

Local Records archivists identify and
process local records.

The sheer volume of records in government offices often makes it difficult to locate documents when they are requested. This is particularly true of records considered "old" or of uncertain value. Archivists assist local officials by determining the content of their holdings, identifying those records that may be legally discarded, and producing computerized inventories of records with current, permanent, or enduring historical value, thereby allowing officials to reclaim valuable office and storage space. In FY2008 staff conducted inventory projects in the offices of the clerk in City of La Plata and City of Palmyra, as well as Butler and Mercer counties.

Grant Program Assistance

Field archivists provided support for the Local Records grant program by conducting ten workshops across the state and scheduling consultation visits with applicants to review proposed projects. They also monitored the progress of the 40 awarded grant projects throughout the state.

Preservation and Access Projects

Judicial records

LR archivists train and consult with local volunteers
LR archivists train and consult with local
volunteers.

In the past fiscal year, Local Records archivists continued their efforts to identify, preserve and make accessible important aspects of Missouri's history that exist in judicial records. Working with probate and circuit court judges and clerks, as well as a cadre of dedicated volunteers, the Local Records Program appraised and processed records dating from 1805 to 2001.

Counties with projects underway in FY2008 included Adair, Audrain, Bates, Boone, Butler, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Cedar, Chariton, Clark, Cole, Cooper, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Howard, Howell, Jackson, Jasper, Johnson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Morgan, New Madrid, Osage, Platte, Polk, Ray, St. Charles, Saline, Scott, Vernon, and Webster along with the City of St. Louis.

The availability of these records allows researchers to gain a deeper understanding of how local, regional, and national issues impacted the everyday lives of Missourians. The topics and themes include slavery, the Civil War, domestic and social relations, economic development, transportation, and frontier history. Several of the projects currently underway (including those in Franklin, Gasconade, Lincoln, New Madrid, and St. Charles counties) have records dating to the beginning of statehood that have revealed previously unknown information, substantially altering and augmenting what we know of early Missouri history.

St. Louis Circuit Court

The Missouri State Archives was awarded a federal grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve and provide access to more than 11,000 Civil War era cases from the St. Louis Circuit Court. This project was identified as a "We the People" project – a special designation by the NEH for projects that significantly advance the study, teaching, and understanding of American history.

Provost Marshal records

Archivists continued indexing the Missouri portion of the War Department Collection of Confederate Records entitled Union Provost Marshals' File of Papers Relating to Individual Citizens, 1861-1866. (Originals are housed at the National Archives.) The collection contains tens of thousands of documents detailing the way the provost marshals affected the lives of Missouri citizens who came into contact with the Union Army during the Civil War and shortly afterwards. To date, 280 out of 300 rolls of microfilm housed in the Missouri State Archives have been indexed. Excellent progress was made in the indexing of the second series of records, entitled Union Provost Marshals' File of Papers Relating to Two or More Civilians, 1861-1866. 10 of 94 microfilm rolls have been indexed. This project has proved invaluable in recovering Missouri's Civil War history; the database is available on the Archives website at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/provost.

Grants

The Local Records Grant Program, which began in 1992, awards funds to local governments based on competitive applications for eligible records management and document preservation projects. Recipients may receive up to 70% of the total project cost in grant funds. A local funding match of at least 30% is required. The Missouri Historical Records Advisory Board (MHRAB) establishes policy and reviews proposals. In FY2008, the MHRAB recommended $259,281 in grants to support 40 projects in 32 counties and the City of St. Louis. Since the program's inception, the agency has awarded 1,016 grants, totaling over $6,300,000, for records management and document preservation around the state.

LR Grant Workshops

In an effort to help local governments develop successful grant
proposals, archivists conduct workshops around the state to
explain the grant guidelines.

The following entities received Local Records grants in FY2008:

The largest grant award was $49,420 for the conversion of land records now stored on deteriorating aperture cards in a Recorder's office to a more durable format. The smallest award was for $427 for microfilming permanent records. The average award was $6,482. Additional information about the grant program is posted online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/grants.

Conservation

Conservation Lab
Conservation lab at the Missouri
State Archives

While Local Records field archivists attempt to forestall damage to public records by assisting in the implementation of sound records practices, sometimes the damage has already been done. Conservators rescue documents that, due to aging or poor storage conditions, have suffered damage and are in need of repair. The Local Records Program manages the state's only publicly-funded conservation lab for treatment of paper records. The professional conservators provide chemical and physical treatments to repair and preserve unique, historically important documents in the State Archives holdings and in local and state government offices.

Document from the 'Old Drum' case, before treatment       Document from the 'Old Drum' case, after treatment

Conservators provide full treatment to the most significant documents in state and local
government offices. The image on the left was taken before treatment. After conservators
cleaned and mended the document, it was more stable.

Treatment Projects

The typical course of treatment involves evaluation of condition, surface-cleaning, removal of tape and other old "mends," washing, mending with Japanese paper and wheat paste, encapsulation, and (sometimes) construction of a customized box. In FY2008, conservators treated a variety of significant records from local government, including the following:

From time to time, the staff is called to assist in the opening of time capsules. Conservators and an LR archivist traveled to Aurora (Lawrence County) to assist in the opening of a 1923 time capsule removed from the high school building due to demolition. They worked to stabilize the contents so the items could be displayed. The conservators also assisted with the opening of a time capsule at the Polk County Courthouse.

The conservators provide treatment for records from the Missouri State Archives. Conservators launched a long-term project to treat documents from the 1845 and other early constitutional conventions. These items were severely damaged by the fire when the State Capitol burned in 1911. They treated an Atlas Accompanying Report on Iron Ores and Coal Fields (1873). Several other projects are undertaken in response to patrons requesting access to documents that cannot be handled safely. They included the following:

The conservators treated hundreds of documents in the following large-scale projects. Many of these came to the conservation lab for treatment in preparation for microfilming. Most required cleaning, humidification and flattening, separation of pages that had been glued together, and mending. A few required mold remediation.

In many jurisdictions, court records have long been tri-folded and stored in metal till drawers. As Local Records archivists and volunteers work to process and index them, some documents resist flattening. Humidification speeds the flattening process, but may require considerable space. Conservators have developed a system using cafeteria racks, which allows high-volume humidification and flattening with little space requirement. These systems are in use in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Clay, Jackson, Polk, Ray, St. Charles, and the St. Louis Circuit Court. New humidification equipment was installed in the Butler and Greene County Archives, and conservators prepared portable humidification kits for three of the Local Records archivists.

The conservators engage in cooperative projects. The conservators loaned equipment and shared expertise with the Missouri State Museum engaged in a project to clean and preserve Civil War battle flags, and provided information to organizations affected by the 2008 flooding in Missouri and the Midwest.

Consultation and Reference Services

The conservation staff provides technical preservation information to the State Archives, state and local government offices, archives and historical societies that house public records, and Missouri citizens. Providing information about disaster planning and recovery is common. Other issues included basic care and storage of all types of media (paper, books, photographs, scrapbooks, newspapers, textiles, and many others), building design and renovation, specifications for archival supplies, environmental control, disaster recovery, framing, repair, microfilming, digitization, construction of time capsules, and referral to other specialists.

Conservators provided guidance to Cass County (storage and duplication of acetate film), Chariton County Clerk (storage and duplication of acetate film), City of Cape Girardeau (fireproof cabinets), Fair Grove Schools (mold remediation), City of Grain Valley (storage for plats and blueprints), Greene County Archives (moldy/wet records), Jasper County Archives (preservation and housing of map collection), City of Kansas City (disaster preparedness), Kansas City Parks & Recreation (archives planning), Kansas City Public Library (digitization options for large map), Pemiscot County Circuit Clerk (storage for rolled items), St. Charles County Historical Society (temperature/humidity analysis), St. Louis Circuit Court (disaster planning), St. Louis Probate Court (HEPA vacuums), Stone County Recorder (flood-damaged microfilm), West Plains City Council (salvage of wet/moldy materials), and Missouri Department of Economic Development, Division of Workforce Development (disaster recovery).

Conservators and archivists provided onsite consultation on the design of storage space, conservation evaluation, and guidance on reformatting strategies (microfilming and digitization). Conservators provided guidance in FY08 to the Kansas City Metro Community Colleges, the Osage County Historical Society, and the Wright County Historical Society, and visited the Stoddard County Archives.

Other Missouri clients included the Missouri Historical Society (pest control) and the History Museum for Springfield-Greene County (mold), and many private citizens seeking guidance on preservation of their own materials.

The conservators maintain lists of vendors offering preservation services and supplies. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/grants/fy2009/Vendo_%20Information.pdf.

Training and Education

The conservators offered training to the Jasper County Archives, the Missouri Police Clerks Association, and new staff hired at the State Archives. Staff created a special PowerPoint presentation on the famous Old Drum court case and treatment for the Johnson County Historical Society.

The conservators also offer educational tours of the conservation lab. During the year, the conservators provided such tours to Johnson County volunteers and Congressman Ike Skelton. The conservators provided a "virtual tour" of the conservation lab, available at the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative site (http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/MakingOf).

The staff attended the Missouri Professional Association of Court Clerks to share information about microfilming and record center planning. Continued work on courthouse drawings led staff to attend the Architectural Records Symposium in Chicago.

Microfilming

Microfilm vault

Records microfilmed by the LR Program are
stored in the Archives' secure microfilm
vault.

Microfilm is a reliable, long-lived replacement for deteriorating paper records. When produced and stored according to national standards, microfilm can survive for 500 years. In addition, microfilm requires only a fraction of storage space as compared to paper records. Increasingly, local governments and other organizations consult with us about the relationship between microfilming and digitization. The staff stresses the importance of microfilm as a long-term preservation medium, while acknowledging the benefits of digital formats for ready access.

The Guidelines for Microfilming Public Records specify the minimum standards that all grant funded projects must meet, and serves as a de facto guide for many localities and state agencies. The Guidelines reflect national standards as well as the advent of technologies that facilitate the migration from film to digital media. The Guidelines are available on the Archives webpage at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/pubs/mfmg/.

With the increasing demand for digital media from clients and the public, Local Records continues to stress the unsurpassed value of microfilm as the long-term preservation method of choice. However, technological advances have made the creation of microfilm from digital images possible. With that in mind the "Statement on Acceptance of Microfilm Created from Digital Sources," available at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/microfilm_acceptance.asp, specifies the criteria that microfilm created by digital sources (such as an ArchiveWriter) must meet in order to qualify for storage in the Archives' secure film vault. Often, the staff provides guidance on the use of "hybrid systems" that yield the advantages of digital technology while retaining the security of microfilm.

Resources

Local Records Inventory Database

The Local Records online database continues to support research in Missouri history. Records from courthouse and municipal offices, dating from the 19th century and including the judicial system, document the interactions of government and citizens. While originally created for a specific administrative or legal use, the documents now contribute to our understanding of persons, events, themes, and institutions.

Since its inception, the Local Records Program has completed computerized inventories for over 460 offices, giving local officials intellectual control of their records and the ability to plan for preservation and security of public information, while protecting the public interests of access and use. This enormous database is available to local governments and the public. This database is updated periodically as additional inventories are completed. During FY2008, the Local Records Inventory Database registered 69,296 web page searches. This database can be found online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/CountyInventory/index.asp.

Photo of Polk County Genealogical Society, Inc.

Local government agencies
and historical organizations
may cooperate to preserve
historical documents.

Records Center Planning

Each year, more localities begin exploring the creation or modification of space for records storage and preservation of their permanent records. Often, local officials launch such explorations because of the shortage of space in the courthouse. To provide basic guidance and a starting point for planning and discussions, the conservation staff developed an online resource, Preservation Concerns in Planning a Records Center, which can be found at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/conservation/
concerns.asp. In recent years, for example, Local Records staff has had on-going consultation with Cape Girardeau, Greene, Howell, Jackson, Jasper, Ray, and Ste. Genevieve counties, and New Bloomfield and St. Louis City officials about record center planning and operations.

Retention Schedules

Missouri state law (RSMo chapter 109) governs the retention and destruction schedules of public documents. Local Records staff analyzes records series produced by local governments based on their current and long-term administrative, fiscal, legal and historical values and submits detailed appraisals in the form of draft records retention schedules to the Local Records Board for review and promulgation. In FY2008, staff began a multi-year process of revising the Police Schedule. There were also additions and revisions to the Sheriff, County Clerk (general, education and election), Fire and General Schedules. The schedules for county and municipal governments and minor political subdivisions are available online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/schedules/. The online retention schedules remain a great success, with annual searches remaining nearly constant between FY2007 and FY2008, with 81,374 searches in the past fiscal year.

Outreach Activities

To ensure that local governments continue to receive up-to-date information regarding the management and care of their records, archivists and conservators of the Local Records program provide programs on a variety of records topics at annual statewide training conferences of executive and judicial governments, and regional city and county clerks' organizations.

Local Records archivists conducted programs highlighting our efforts to bring historical resources to the public at the following national and statewide programs: Missouri Association of Circuit Clerks, Missouri Collector's Association, Missouri Conference on History, Missouri Police Chiefs Association, Missouri Association of Professional Court Clerks, National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, National Genealogical Society Conference, Midwest Archives Conference and Society of Southwest Archivists.

They also spoke at regional meetings of the St. Louis Area Archivists, Monroe County Genealogical Society, St. Louis Genealogical Society, St. Louis Civil War Roundtable, St. Louis "Discovering Your Roots" Conference, St. Charles Genealogical Society, Macon County Historical Society, Lawrence County Historical Society, Twentieth Century Club—Mt. Vernon, Springfield Area Archivists, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Lindenwood University and the University of Central Missouri.

Volunteers and Interns



Photo of local volunteers
Local volunteers organize records and
create the computerized inventory

Local Records field archivists, in cooperation with local public officials, attracted dozens of volunteers to cooperate in preserving historic executive and judicial records. Several projects were advanced thanks to the work of citizens in Butler, Callaway, Cass, Cooper, DeKalb, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Jasper, Johnson, Lawrence, Lincoln, New Madrid, Osage, Platte, Polk, Ray, Vernon, and Webster counties. Some 185 volunteers from historical and genealogical societies contributed a total of 6,813 hours in FY2008. Since FY2004 civic-minded volunteers have given 25,260 hours to Local Records projects.

Each year, the Local Records Program offers students in publicly funded colleges and universities the opportunity to explore career possibilities in the archives and records management fields. In FY2008, students from Missouri Southern University, Southeast Missouri State University, and Missouri State University worked under the supervision of field archivists to process and index historical documents in local government archives in Cape Girardeau, Greene, and Jasper counties.

Local Records Board

The Local Records Board serves as the coordinating board to establish retention schedules for all local governments. The Board derives its authority from RSMo 109.230 and 109.255.

Members of the Missouri Local Records Board - FY08

Marlene Castle
Jefferson County Recorder

Mike Hepler
Sullivan County Clerk

Ann Copeland
New Madrid County Recorder

Barbara O'Connor
Cameron City Clerk

Jo Ann Cordsiemon
Elsberry City Clerk

Judy Richardson
St. Charles Deputy City Clerk

San Duncan
Director, State/Federal Programs
Jackson Public Schools

Kristi Urich
Grundy County Clerk

Virginia Habjan
Vernon County Public Administrator

Tom Vansaghi
Metropolitan Community Colleges

State Archives
Phone: (573) 751-3280		 Local Records
Phone: (573) 751-9047		 Records Management
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