Accessibility and preservation of historical records have lagged well behind current technology in some communities.
But a new partnership involving the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library aims to bring the tracking of historical public records to the modern age.
When library Special Collections Manager Susan Buttaccio discusses the role of libraries, one of her prevailing thoughts is the impact of former director John Spears, who died just over a week ago. The digitization project is a prime example of Spears’ legacy and the collaboration he advocated for, Buttaccio said.
“John (Spears) was all about partnerships. He was all about intellectual freedom, and he was all about connecting people," she said. "I think that this, sort of, checks all the boxes of the type of program that (Spears) would love and support.”
The Western New York Digitization Center is the third center in the state, but the first partnership between a public library and the New York Genealogical and Biological Society.
CEO of the society, Josh Taylor, says it’s an integral collaboration for documenting the region’s history and providing free access to residents.
“This statewide initiative sees the NY G and B partnering with organizations across the state, including historical societies, religious organizations, town hall offices and others, to help them digitize records they would be unable to do so on their own,” he said.
The records will range from marriage and death records to maps from around Western New York, but the biggest impact might be for more rural communities that don’t have the same resources as Buffalo or Rochester, Buttaccio said.
"People would be coming through, would just be here, waiting to go out west, and they would die. They would pass away, and you know, just as they were traveling westward, and a lot of times there's no record," she said. "There's no official records for that, but then you start to find them, and all these nooks and crannies, and these local organizations are the keepers of them, right? So it just reveals, it tells stories that, maybe, were never told before."
