A page of their book The Courier,July 17 Posted:07/19/08
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The Monmouth County Archives have a specific process in place to ensure the preservation of the county’s history.
First, historical documents are acquisitioned and organized before they are preserved.
The facility has a special vacuum and ventilation system to delicately clean old documents, Archivist Gary Saretzky said.
The preservation process includes removing acidic paper or rusted staples that could damage the materials, he said.
In compliance with the strictest standards, copies of original documents are made on microfilm and/or digital media, Saretzky said. Sometimes the initial documents are duplicated to avoid excessive handling of delicate materials, he added.
After the documents are prepared for storage, they are properly arranged and a description is written up for the record, Saretzky said. The description would include historical or biographical information, he said.
Finally, the information is indexed so researchers can easily locate desired documents.
