The Town of Shandaken has digitized over a century’s worth of records, ensuring long-term preservation and easier access for residents. Town Clerk Joyce Grant and Deputy Supervisor Robert Drake led the effort, using a $5,673 state grant to convert payroll records, town meeting minutes, abstracts, property records, and birth, death, and marriage certificates dating back to 1906 into digital formats.

“Most of these records were stored in the town hall, which sits in a floodway of the Esopus,” said Drake. “If you’ve got 100-year-old records, putting them in a floodway isn’t ideal.” The documents are now safely archived and searchable.

The project also replaces outdated microfilm systems, cutting retrieval time from hours to minutes. “We have this big, clunky machine,” Grant explained. “If someone needed a payroll record or birth certificate for retirement, we’d have to dig out the microfilm, scroll through like an old movie reel, and print out a barely readable copy.”

Beyond accessibility, the initiative also prevents storage issues that have plagued the town in the past. “Every town has to keep records, but they also have to clear out what’s no longer needed,” said Grant. “This protects critical documents while eliminating the mountains of paper that used to fill our attic—at one point, the weight actually collapsed the floor.”