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Date: 3/9/2021
EASTHAMPTON – An archival project has allowed Easthampton to uncover old town records dating back to the 1800s. Between hundreds and thousands of payrolls, audits, school records and more are stored away, leaving some wondering the true importance and value in keeping it all.
Barbara LaBombard, the city clerk, clerk to the City Council and records access officer, plays a vital role in this project. She informed Reminder Publishing that in October 2020, King Information Systems, a software company, came to look at these records. With their expertise, they were able to learn that filtering through all this information would take about 40 days.
By entering these records into a database, King Information Systems will be able to tell if something must be kept, how long it should be kept, and what can be thrown away.
When the Old Town Hall moved to the Municipal Building in 2003, many records were carried over. LaBombard explained that the Municipal Office Building, located at 50 Payson Ave., has two rooms downstairs – big and small – occupied with an overload of records. A great deal of this includes auditor and school records, dating to a time as early as 1918.
LaBombard shared, “I don’t know what to keep.”
She went on to say, the records that are kept, must be boxed. Personal records such as school records must be kept.
Although some boxes are labeled, LaBombard said the descriptions don’t always match what’s inside.
After going through the records at Payson Avenue, LaBombard said, “Everything will be separated out for what we keep and get rid off, followed by being entered to say when we can throw them out.”
Information such as ballots must be kept for 22 months. All of the ballot boxes are marked and will be removed once their expiration date hits.
Located within the basement of the Old Town Hall is a vault, consisting mostly of treasurer books. Other fascinating findings include lists of women and men voters from the 1940s.
“I have brought some things to the Town Hall because some shouldn’t be here,” explained LaBombard. She shared, it gets very warm and musty in the basement, so the vault currently needs to remain open.
While shelving holding records at Payson Avenue will be replaced, LaBombard believes that some shelving may end up at the Old Town Hall. Here, a few rooms occupy records, along with outdated voting machines/cranks.
The City Council already approved $50,000 for the project, coming from the Cannabis Impact Fee Stabilization Fund. $15,000 has been requested from CPA to complete work at the Old Town Hall.
LaBombard said they are hopeful King Information Systems will begin filtering through these records in April. They will begin their work with the Municipal Building and the Old Town Hall since they are the biggest. Following this completion, they will be moving to the Public Safety Building and the Council on Aging.