
Submitted photo
The Mason County Commission recently received a $4,741 Records Management and Preservation Grant at the State Capitol. The grant, presented here by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to Mason County Clerk Diana Cromley, will be used to purchase a public access computer, and to digitize, microfilm, and rebind map books in the county clerk’s office.
POINT PLEASANT — One look in the record room at the Mason County Clerk’s Office, and it becomes apparent just how much information is stored there with more arriving everyday.
In a continuing effort to preserve and provide easy access to this information, the Mason County Commission recently received a Records Management and Preservation Grant for $4,741 to purchase a public access computer, and to digitize, microfilm, and rebind map books in the county clerk’s office. The county commission’s match on the grant is $474 for a total project cost of $5,215.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin recently presented Mason County Clerk Diana Cromley with the grant award at the state capital.
Cromley said the microfilm, imaging and rebinding will be of six 18”X24” plat books dating from 1848 to 1979. She explained the public access inquiry terminal will assist the public in viewing and printing these maps along with other scanned documents in her office.
“This grant will help the Mason County Clerk’s Office in many ways,” Cromley explained. “The microfilming/imaging of the maps will preserve them for future generations. It will keep the originals from being constantly handled when copying or examining. The new binders will protect the originals as our current ones are decades old.”
As for the new inquiry computer, Cromley said: “It will allow customers to find and print a map without handling the original. We will be able to store the originals in another place, thus opening up much needed space in the record room.”
Cromley said the grant award should arrive after July 1.






