Cape May County - Historical Records Sent for Conservation Treatment

On May 24, 2007 three archival and historically significant collections of Cape May County dating from 1695 to 1923 were transported to Brown's River Bindery in Essex, Vermont for conservation treatment, microfilming, scanning and rebinding. County Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti greeted Bill Stewart of Brown's River Bindery who carefully loaded for transportation volumes of Deeds, Surveys, Miscellaneous Records, Mortgages and Earmarks (1695-1793) of the County Clerk's Office; Books A, B & C of Wills (1804-1890) of the County Surrogate's Office and Almshouse Records (1821-1923) of the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Over the summer professional conservators at Brown's River will disbind the volumes, surface clean and deacidify the pages; remove tapes, adhesives and stains and repair tears. Before rebinding the volumes will be microfilmed for preservation and scanned for access. The volumes will return to Cape May County in custom made archival boxes.

This work is being funded by a Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support Grant administered by the Department of State Division of Archives and Records Management.

"These records are some of the historical treasures of our county. This project will preserve these records for future generations and will provide greater access for family historians, genealogists and land title researchers." Fulginiti said.

County Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti (left) with Bill Stewart of Brown's River Bindery of Essex VT holding Aaron Leaming Surveys, Misc. Records; 1695-1764, one of eighteen volumes to be conserved and rebound by Brown's River.