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Council office posts 4,100 pages of digitized village records from 1881–1970 after ORAB grant
Summary
Deputy Clerk Sophia McGuire reported completion of a historical records digitization project funded by an Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board grant: $2,940 in funds enabled scanning ~4,100 pages of village council minutes, ordinances and resolutions; images are posted on Legistar, with next steps to make handwritten pages searchable.
Sophia McGuire, deputy clerk of council and city archivist, presented the final report for a historical records digitization grant the council office received from the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board in April 2024.
McGuire said the grant provided $2,940 to scan roughly 4,100 pages of village council records (meeting minutes, ordinances and resolutions) dating from 1881 through about 1970. ScanWorks and a council intern performed the digitization in spring and summer 2024. McGuire said the scanned files were created to archival standards and published to the city’s Legistar site to meet the grant requirement for online access.
"We received $2,940 in ORAB funds, and that allowed us to scan and make accessible some of our historical records," McGuire said. She showed before-and-after images demonstrating improved legibility compared with legacy microfilm scans from the 1990s.
McGuire said the next step is to make the handwritten records searchable. Options under consideration include paying for AI transcription services (she mentioned TranscribeUs as one candidate) or recruiting volunteers to transcribe the handwritten minutes and attach transcriptions to Legistar records. McGuire noted that the records will remain backed up in multiple locations, that originals will be returned to off‑site climate‑controlled storage, and that the city will publicize the new online resource.
Council members praised the work and discussed outreach to the historical society and other volunteer sources for transcription.
