The Records Management and Preservation Board (RMPB) has awarded $484,735 in grant funds to thirty-one West Virginia County Commissions for records management and preservation projects. The Board reviewed submissions and made its recommendations in January for projects to improve management, storage conditions, accessibility, and preservation of public records held in county offices. Following official letters announcing the successful grants, RMPB staff will provide technical assistance in setting up the projects, which officially begin with the new fiscal year (July 1, 2023). A complete list of recipients is attached.
The RMPB was created by the West Virginia Legislature in 2000 to develop a system of records management and preservation for county governments. Funding for the grants program comes from filing fees collected by county clerks and deposited in the special Public Records and Preservation Revenue Account. Applications for the next grant cycle will be available September 1, 2023.
For more information about the Records Management and Preservation Board's annual grant program or the work of the RMPB, contact Kyle Campbell, county records archivist, West Virginia Archives and History, by phone at (304) 558-0230, ext. 150, by e-mail at kyle.m.campbell@wv.gov, or by mail at Records Management and Preservation Board, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard East, Building 9, Charleston, WV 25305-0300. Information can be accessed electronically at http://archive.wvculture.org/history/rmpb/rmpb.html
Barbour County Commission, $10,000 to digitize civil and criminal microfiche case files.
Berkeley County Council, $23,271 to index digital images of chancery and law case files, administrative appeals, special boxes, domestic case files, and to recover law order books in the circuit clerk's office. The county clerk will purchase a map cabinet and mylar sleeves to encapsulate and store maps.
Braxton County Commission, $9,091 to digitize chancery orders in 80 tri-fold shuck cans - civil, divorce, and felony case files in the circuit clerk's office.
Brooke County Commission, $13,858 to purchase roller shelving for birth, death, and marriage books.
Cabell County Commission, $23,487 to scan and index civil, criminal, and domestic case files.
Fayette County Commission, $7,515 to purchase six color document ScanSnap scanners and to purchase two map cabinets with Mylar sleeves.
Gilmer County Commission, $22,154 to digitize land books in the county clerk's office; to create a digital index to attach land book images to for public searches online in the assessor's office; to scan and index criminal case files, purchase a scanner, shredder, and a public access computer for the sheriff's office.
Grant County Commission, $9,086 to digitize grantee/grantor deed index books in the county clerk's office.
Hardy County Commission, $15,000 to create an online index for deed grantor books so they are searchable in the county's records management system and for the recovery of deed grantor books as necessary in the county clerk's office.
Jackson County Commission, $4,546 to recover chancery order books in the circuit clerk's office.
Jefferson County Commission, $8,864 to scan and index archival land development records dating to 1975, starting with building permits in the county commissioners' office.
Kanawha County Commission, $20,000 to purchase roller shelving for land books and to recover land books in the assessor's office.
Lewis County Commission, $40,000 to scan and index domestic civil case files, criminal case files, and domestic violence case files in the circuit clerk's office; to index imaged deed books and inventory record books in the county clerk's office; to scan and index pre 2018 criminal reports, investigation reports, and criminal complaints in the sheriff's office; to scan and index land book notes regarding transfer documents in the assessor's office.
Lincoln County Commission, $21,304 to digitize grantee appraisement books; instrument to record books; inventory books; lease books; survey books; power of attorney books, to purchase a map cabinet, and to restore and encapsulate land books in the county clerk's office.
Logan County Commission, $11,082 to purchase a scanner and to digitize and index deed books in the county clerk's office, to scan and index map cards and purchase a scanner in the assessor's office.
Marion County Commission, $9,091 to digitize and index inventory and estate fiduciary heirship, and bond books in the county clerk's office.
Mason County Commission, $14,982 to digitize and index divorce case files, and mental hygiene, civil and juvenile case files in the circuit clerk's office; to digitize oil and gas lease books and trust deed books in the county clerk's office.
McDowell County Commission, $4,909 to encapsulate and digitize map books in the county clerk's office.
Mercer County Commission, $31,308 to purchase moveable track shelving for civil and juvenile exhibits in the circuit clerk's office; to relocate Liktriever shelving from Raleigh County Clerk to the Mercer County Clerk that will house voter cards and to restore, rebind, and encapsulate deed books 36 and 39.
Mineral County Commission, $10,000 to purchase a large format scanner to digitize oversize books and maps in the county clerk's office.
Mingo County Commission, $25,000 to digitize and index birth records in the county clerk's office; to digitize and index the towns of Delbarton and Gilbert map cards in the assessor's office; and in the circuit clerk's office, for personnel costs to review civil case files and implement the records retention requirements of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
Monongalia County Commission, $14,061 to purchase temperature humidity loggers and water leak detectors, to digitize and index the county's oldest oversize maps, and to duplicate various rolls of microfilm/record titles that have deteriorated over time in the county clerk's office.
Morgan County Commission, $30,000 to digitize and index magistrate and circuit case files in the prosecutor's office, to digitize and index map cards in the assessor's office, and to digitize and index deed books in the county clerk's office.
Ohio County Commission, $4,353 to purchase a micro-cut shredder to dispose of documents that have exceeded the records retention requirement in the county clerk's office.
Pendleton County Commission, $10,000 to index deed books that were digitized by the RMPB Statewide Preservation Project in the county clerk's office.
Pleasants County Commission, $10,000 to scan and index domestic and civil order case files in the circuit clerk's office.
Pocahontas County Commission, $32,302 to digitize and index chancery and law case files and to purchase a shredder in the circuit clerk's office; to digitize and index assignment books, release books, and tax lien books; to purchase a scanner and a micro-cut shredder in the county clerk's office.
Putnam County Commission, $6,673 to purchase a map cabinet and Mylar sleeves to encapsulate the county's oldest survey and plat maps, 1848-present.
Roane County Commission, $7,505 to digitize and index domestic case files, civil case files, and miscellaneous cases in the circuit clerk's office.
Wayne County Commission, $25,838 to index deed books that were digitized by the RMPB Statewide Preservation Project, to recover and encapsulate the assessor's copies of land books, to purchase a map cabinet and sleeves for the county's oversize maps, and to purchase a color document/flatbed scanner that is compatible with the county's records management system in the county clerk's office.
Wirt County Commission, $9,455 to index digital images of deed books in the county clerk's office.
Records Management and Preservation Board
West Virginia Archives and History