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Livingston County historian outlines ARPA-funded digitization and new online catalog
Summary
County historian Holly Watson told supervisors the historian's office used ARPA funds to digitize thousands of microfilmed local newspaper pages, launched a searchable records index, and will use the Preservica platform to publish additional materials and an upcoming Murray Hill history book.
Holly Watson, Livingston County historian, updated the Board of Supervisors on three signature projects the historian’s office is pursuing this year, including extensive digitization of local microfilmed newspapers funded with ARPA dollars.
Watson said the office digitized roughly four times as many pages as in the previous year and is publishing the material on NewYorkStateHistoricNewspapers.org so residents can search nineteenth- and twentieth-century local coverage. "These papers come from all across the county," she said, naming Avon, Caledonia, Springwater, Dansville, Geneseo and Mount Morris among communities represented.
She described a second, low-cost project that repurposed two long, unused bulletin boards in the government center to display archival images and highlight local industries and community life. The third initiative is an online searchable catalog and records index the historian’s office is improving; Watson said the office will use the Preservica platform to make more material directly viewable and easier to request.
Watson also said the office expects to publish a Murray Hill history book with former county historian Amy Alden and tentatively plans an April launch with an open house and tours of the Murray Hill campus.
Board members thanked Watson for expanding outreach and handling a rising demand for online access to archival materials.
