March 13, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss is on a mission to save paper records in his office by digitizing them and he is reaching out to interested high school and college students to help him do it.
Poss said any motivated student looking to complete an internship or community service hours may participate. It’s a great opportunity especially for Tennessee Promise scholarship students who are required to perform several hours of community service
Right now more than 100 years of vital records are all in their original paper forms, bound in hardback books.
“Our office has approximately 40 marriage books with up to 500 individual marriages per book prior to 2007. Currently, all marriage records prior to 2007 must be identified solely from hardback books not searchable by computer,” said Poss.
“There are several reasons this job is important and should be completed. Primarily, protection and preservation of the record. In the case of fire, water, smoke, wear or tear each of these books are at risk for damage or complete loss. Also, by inputting every individual handwritten transaction, we will have the ability to secure and preserve the record both locally and off site. Once entered and saved into the data base, the record then becomes searchable to all citizens via internet. This will then allow our office digitized searching and the ability to print and view records from 1854 the same way we print and view them today,” Poss continued.
“Confirmation of marriage records are frequently requested from the Social Security Administration, genealogy research and every day citizens. My hope and goal are to enter these 40 books dating back to 1854 with volunteers needing to complete an internship or community service hours. In order to accommodate students, our office will work with their schedule. Our office hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and most Saturday’s 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.,” Poss added.
For more information stop by or call the County Clerk’s Office at 615-597-5177.