Lincoln County Probate Court is using modern technology to safeguard its historical records. Register of Probate Catherine Moore and her staff have started to scan hundreds of thousands of probate court documents so that eventually they will all be online and accessible, Moore said.

Moore, Deputy Register Karen Robbins and Clerk Susan Hodgdon have completed scanning more than 5,000 records over the past two months. The three have been able to scan 200 cards every day without creating additional cost by working on the project during their regular work day. Moore estimates that the work will take about five years to complete.

The scanned documents will then be accessible over the Internet via ICON software, which is used by the court. There will be a charge for copying, with ICON and the county each sharing the $2 fee, so the project will generate some revenue for the court.

All of the county’s records from 1760 to the present will eventually make their way into the system, via index cards which are scanned to create the “shell” which will become the digitized replica of a document. All documents are listed on index cards and cross-referenced both alphabetically and chronologically.

The effort will also be a tremendous aid in preserving older documents, which will be placed in secure, climate-controlled storage after being scanned. “This is history,” said Moore.

Once the project is completed, Internet users will be able to view, for example, the 1806 will of Henry Knox and read that he thought his son Henry Jackson Knox “involved me in the payment of large sums of money by his thoughtless extravagance.” Being able to view the documents online will help to preserve them by reducing the handling of fragile papers.

Applauding her staff for their hard work, Moore said that Robbins and Hodgdon “have done a lot of work on this and I’m very proud of Karen and Susan.”