The following announcement is from another genealogy site: Document Preservation group forming.... Helen Stanford, of Smith Township, is spearheading a project to salvage the old county records which have been stored for years in the basement of the onetime County Home on State Route 331. Much controversy has surrounded the deteriorating condition of the building and the possible damage or loss of important historical documents; many dating to the 1800's. Helen attended a recent Belmont County Board of Commissioners meeting, explained the situation and got them to state for the record - "the Board's goal is to centralize the county's public records, clean them, and preserve them for future generations." The first step in the preservation of these documents is the removal and cleaning of hundreds of old books and ledgers from the basement area. A work area has been set up on the second floor of the old County Home and the work of cleaning the books has begun. Anyone wishing to help with this worthwhile project should contact Helen at [email protected] Volunteers are needed to help clean the books and donations are needed for cleaning supplies, HEPA filters, masks, etc. The Document Preservation Committee (working name only) will be providing a valuable service to genealogists and local historians as well as future generations. The hope is to create one centrally located, comprehensive library of county record books that can be accessed by the public. The ultimate goal, in my opinion, should be to have the most important documents scanned and made available through the internet. Any ideas and suggestions are welcomed.

I do have a question- have the recent found records been microfilmed by the Utah historical society (LDS)? If not, I have a contact person that is filming in a neighboring county which I could inform. I know the LDS were there about 4 yrs ago but I don't know what records exist in this "basement" environment and it doesn't seem to me that these records would have been included in the filming that took place then. Flora ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 03:28 PM Subject: [OHBELMON-L] Document Preservation The following announcement is from another genealogy site: Document Preservation group forming.... Helen Stanford, of Smith Township, is spearheading a project to salvage the old county records which have been stored for years in the basement of the onetime County Home on State Route 331. Much controversy has surrounded the deteriorating condition of the building and the possible damage or loss of important historical documents; many dating to the 1800's. Helen attended a recent Belmont County Board of Commissioners meeting, explained the situation and got them to state for the record - "the Board's goal is to centralize the county's public records, clean them, and preserve them for future generations." The first step in the preservation of these documents is the removal and cleaning of hundreds of old books and ledgers from the basement area. A work area has been set up on the second floor of the old County Home and the work of cleaning the books has begun. Anyone wishing to help with this worthwhile project should contact Helen at [email protected] Volunteers are needed to help clean the books and donations are needed for cleaning supplies, HEPA filters, masks, etc. The Document Preservation Committee (working name only) will be providing a valuable service to genealogists and local historians as well as future generations. The hope is to create one centrally located, comprehensive library of county record books that can be accessed by the public. The ultimate goal, in my opinion, should be to have the most important documents scanned and made available through the internet. Any ideas and suggestions are welcomed.