VOORHEESVILLE — Archivists working with the Voorheesville Public Library have been visiting nearby towns on a recovery mission: They want to rescue and store area paper records.
"The Voorheesville Public Library is interested in creating a documentary research center that would be regional in nature," said library Director Gail Sacco. "This is the dream. We’re at the very beginning of the dream."

The beginning — having archivists Gretchen Koerpel and Jim Corsaro approach nearby towns to gauge their interest in the project, and to view and inventory those town records — became possible once Sacco applied for, and received, a grant from the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund, which is part of the New York State Archives, Sacco said.

The $4,586 grant funds Corsaro’s work, and travel and expenses. The Voorheesville library provides additional funding to cover Koerpel’s work. Koerpel has worked as an archivist and consultant to the library for other projects, also.
"New York State wants to see cooperative efforts" which save money, Koerpel said. In the past, she said, small vaults were created to keep records in controlled environments, but the records were inaccessible. The trend now, she said, is "to have more centralized arrangements" with environmental controls and improved reference and cataloging of materials.

Access for everyone

Sacco said that paper records like photographs, diaries, maps, and letters would be stored in the proposed facility, but not current records, employment, or employee health records. No items like farm implements or quilts would stored at the facility, either, she said. The center would house a research room and a preservation or repair room.
"We’re interested in doing what libraries do," Sacco said, noting that the library would not own, but only store, materials.
"We see ourselves as a cooperative group to enable the preservation of documents," Sacco said. She said that the archivists are not interested in being historical societies or town clerks, but want only to facilitate storing documents and allow access.
"Everybody needs to use this material, and they just can’t get to it," Koerpel said.
"This area is so rich. It was settled so long ago," Sacco said. "We’re really lucky to live in a community that has been settled so early and has so much history." The project "makes records accessible to the people whose records they are. This is part of what our mission in life is. It seemed like a logical fit," she said.
Many records in nearby towns are kept in places that are too hot in summer and too cold in winter, Sacco and Koerpel said. These conditions are "disastrous to wood-pulp-based paper," Sacco said. Local museums and historical societies have no place to store records with heat control to "keep records useful," she said.

Working together, she said, the library could store originals properly, digitalize copies, and make the information available to researchers outside the Capital Region.
"We’ll be looking for other money"to work out practical details," Sacco said. The size of the facility and its cost, and legal agreements to safeguard ownership and clarify what kind of access to records the library can have and grant to others would all need to be determined.
For example, she said, can the library show records from the 1600s, or does it need permission from the owner of the documents"
"It’s really a model project," Sacco said. She and Koerpel said that there are not many places around the state with central record storage.
"I don’t see this as a tax item. I see it as a grant-funded project," Sacco said. The center would likely be built on the library site. The library recently purchased land, and the board is already looking at plans to redo the library, Sacco said. The center would incur no additional staffing cost because it is already open seven days a week. "We’re already set up to provide that access," she said.

Saving for generations
"It’s taking those valuable historical documents at risk," Koerpel said. "Some are where they could catch fire. We’re taking them from an unsafe environment and putting them in a very secure and environmentally-sound place."
Sacco said that until the early 19th Century, paper was made with materials like cotton fiber. Such a relic is "still vital. You can touch it. It doesn’t crumble," she said.

After that time, much paper was made from wood-based pulp, which grows brittle over time and on which ink fades.
"If you put your fingers on it and pick it up, it falls apart," Sacco said. Those working with paper records protect them from light, use acid-free gloves, and make copies of the originals so people can see the records without damaging them, she said.
"Librarians know how to do that. It’s part of their niche," she said.
"Many of these items are unique, and they need to be preserved. They reflect life 200 years ago. They’re valuable," Koerpel said.
At the Rensselaerville History Society, a book from a sawmill has been kept, Koerpel said. The book listed every type of tree that had been logged; it was an original listing of the trees growing in the area, she said. A horticulture student might find the information useful for research, she said. Records from old businesses — "things you don’t think of in everyday life" — might be protected at a research center like the one proposed, she said.
"There’s something about the original that’s quite magical," Sacco said.