HISTORIC RECORDS MOVED TO TEMPORARY STORAGE; PERMANENT SOLUTION WTILL UP IN THE AIR

Boxes of Cape Girardeau County probate records have been moved to temporary storage facilities while the County Commission searches for a permanent solution to its storage problem.

More records are slated to be moved as a renovation project proceeds at the county prosecutor's office in the Jackson courthouse.

Records, some more than 100 years old, are being stored in rented storage sheds. The boxes are stacked on shelves. Dehumidifiers and fans are running inside the facilities in an attempt to protect the documents.

Joan Feezor, local records archivist with the Secretary of State's office, said those precautions should protect the records. "It seems that you are taking good steps in finding temporary storage," she said Monday at the commission's meeting.

She suggested that volunteers from local historical or genealogical societies may be interested in helping.

Jones said no one had offered to help.

"People have been quick to point out the problem," Jones said. "What we need is someone pointing out a solution or offering assistance."

The Riverside Regional Library board has suggested an option. The regional library needs a bigger facility. It could add space for county records storage in its project.

Earlier this month, the commission asked for a feasibility study for such a project.

Geoffrey Roth, director of the Riverside Regional Library, said Monday, a game plan is in the works. "Your records problem is in that plan," he said.

Jones said Southeast Missouri State University's regional history center has expressed an interest in preserving the records.

"But they don't have any space either," he said.

Feezor helped Mississippi County maintain records after its courthouse fire. She also advised Stoddard County as it created a records center in second-story office space on the courthouse square.

She explained that Stoddard County appointed a three-member group to find a solution to its storage problem. Initially, the work was done by volunteers from local historical and genealogical societies.

"They had as many as 80 volunteers working on records," Feezor said.

Stoddardy County employs a part-time archivist to care for records.