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Marriage records dating back more than a century are stored at the Weber County Clerk/Auditor's Office.

Photo supplied

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Marriage records dating back more than a century are stored at the Weber County Clerk/Auditor's Office.

Photo supplied

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OGDEN — The Weber County Clerk/Auditor’s Office is taking steps to preserve and provide access to marriage license records dating back to 1888 with financial support from the state of Utah.

Since 2007, the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board has awarded nearly a half-million dollars in grant funding to municipalities and cultural heritage organizations that undertake time-limited archival projects. Last month, Weber County was granted just over $6,600 in matching funds for its preservation efforts.

Mona Wald, public services manager for the Clerk/Auditor’s Office, said the grant will allow the county to rehouse thousands of aging marriage records.

“We started recognizing that there were some issues with the way we were storing our marriage license records and applications,” Wald told the Standard-Examiner. “We store approximately 100 per box and we have roughly 250 boxes right now. … They’re kind of the normal storage boxes that you would use for moving. So with time, as we continue to access the records and we get in and out of them continuously, we started noticing that the boxes are starting to show signs of deterioration.

“The bottoms are starting to buckle. The handles, they’ll break into your hand as you pull them out. Then there’s some exposure to air. … And if there were any situations of roof leakage or a fire where the emergency sprinklers were to go off, they are exposed to that.”

Wald said the project will also address safety concerns, as some boxes weigh up to 40 pounds and pose risks for employees retrieving them from overhead storage. As such, the county plans to replace them with smaller, lighter boxes that are resistant to fire and water, while documents will be stored in acid-proof folders.

Staffers will also take the opportunity to reorganize and create updated scans of the aging documents for future use.

“Through the years, we’ve had different types of software systems, and each one of those systems has had it scanned a different way,” Wald said. “As we’ve updated our software system, the scans from one system haven’t always transferred over to the new system in the best manner or best quality.”

Residents regularly request record copies, according to Wald, who said that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has also scanned records for genealogy purposes. She noted that older records are particularly fragile and often difficult to digitize accurately due to their unusual length and delicate paper. She views the project, which will officially begin July 15, as an important measure to preserve the county’s history.

However, she has also observed through her work at the Clerk/Auditor’s Office that some historical records are better than others in terms of the accuracy and information they provide.

“History is a lot of times just dependent on who writes it,” Wald said. “What really, truly happened or how old or unmarried a person was, that is based on what they swore to and signed to. And that’s what we have on paper. But, you know, we will never really know the truth of history ever, I think.”

Marriage license records are searchable on the county’s website at https://tinyurl.com/2wdbzyc6. Records less than 75 years old are considered vital records under state code, and copies may be obtained conditionally. Marriage records older than 75 years are public records and do not require special conditions to receive a copy.