Members of the Carter County Records Commission took the first step toward creating an official county archive Wednesday afternoon.
The group unanimously approved a pair of resolutions — one to create an archives department for the county and the other to institute a fee schedule for certain county licenses and legal filings that would help fund an archive.
Creating an official county archive has been a topic of discussion by the Records Commission over the past few years and on Wednesday, Kelly Wilkerson of the Tennessee State Library and Archives spoke to the group about the benefits of an archive and also the financial aid available to counties that form them.
“We would love to help you in any way we can,” said Wilkerson, who serves as an archivist and education outreach coordinator and helps counties begin and maintain their archives.
Prior to speaking to the group, Wilkerson spent some time with Carter County Historian Scott Bowers going over some of the county’s oldest records and seeing how they are currently stored and maintained.
“You all are one of the most historic counties in Tennessee,” she said to members of the Records Commission. “Your records are so significant to the State of Tennessee and even the nation. It goes so far beyond just being important to your local residents.”
“You’ve got some really old historic materials here that are in surprisingly fantastic shape,” she added. “But to keep them in that fantastic shape there are some preservation things that need to take place.”
If the county were to create an official archive, Wilkerson said that would open up not only state grants, but federal archive grants as well that could be used to fund and maintain the archive.
Currently, about 76 counties in Tennessee have official archives, Wilkerson said, and they run the gamut from fully staffed archives open five days a week to volunteer-based archives that are open only one or two days a week.
“The situations vary across the state,” she said. “How you create your archive is really up to you. The state can provide you some guidance to help you.”
The TSLA also provides archival training to staff and volunteers of county archives, Wilkerson said.
Currently, all of the county’s records are maintained by the elected officials in their individual offices. For example, all deeds are maintained by Jody Bristol in the Register of Deeds office while marriage license records are kept by Mary Gouge in the County Court Clerk’s office.
An archive would help centralize the older records and make it easier for the public to access them while also helping to free up space in the different department offices, Bowers said.
“The office holders have inherited a situation with these records and the way they have been kept for 200 years,” he said, adding the records need to be preserved and protected for future generations. “Once that stuff is gone it just cannot be replaced.”
With the approval by the Records Commission, the resolutions creating an archives department and setting the records fee structure will be sent to the full Carter County Commission for approval.