Craig Olive, Johnston County Register of Deeds, is on a mission to save history, one page at a time. The Register of Deeds office recently completed a project to restore and preserve original marriage licenses from 1894-1926 as well as death records from 1914-1944 and birth records from 1914-1917. The restoration program is funded through the Register of Deeds Automation & Preservation Fund.
Kofile Technologies performed the restoration at their state of the art conservation lab in Greensboro, NC. This past summer, Greg Brooks, of Kofile, made the trip to the Johnston Register of Deeds office to personally pick up the vital records for delivery to Greensboro.
During the preservation process, the books were professionally repaired. The records were de-acidified, surface cleaned, repaired and mended. Adhesives were also removed and stains were reduced as much as possible. Each sheet was inserted into an archival polyester pocket before being placed in a custom binder. These proprietary techniques give new life to old documents.
In late December, once the preservation process was completed, Kofile Technologies returned the books to Johnston County.
“Some of the pages of the birth, death, and marriage records were brittle from being handled so much over the years. Preserving these documents is very important to me. As custodian of these records, we are pleased to safeguard this history for generations to come.” Olive stated.
Olive also noted that he will continue to repair old books and records in the upcoming months.
