Effort Underway To Digitize Old Records In Creek County

Some Creek County leaders are looking to preserve historic records in the county with some dating back to the 1950s.

There is now an effort to digitize them, so they don't deteriorate.

Creek County Clerk Jennifer Mortazavi says the first phase of the project will cost a little more than a million dollars for digital data entry from 1950 to 1987.

That would mean more than 438 thousand items would have to be entered into the system digitally by a company.

The records range from judgments and deeds to leases.

Mortazavi says the public would have easier access to the documents if they are digitized and residents could come into the office or go online to view the system.

"I think it will be a lasting impact because of its history. They are microfilmed, but they are not easily accessible for people to get a quick search. Maybe if they are out of state or something and they do want to do a history of their land and it will be at their fingertips,” Jennifer Mortazavi, Creek County Clerk, said.

Mortazavi is requesting for her office to receive ARPA funds from Creek County to help fund the preservation of records.

She believes it would benefit the county as a whole if the funding is approved.

“We have boxes full of grade records and we have pupil cards of enrollment cards that people utilize when they don’t have a birth certificate they need to approve their age. We have not been able to get all of that in our computer system and preserve them how they need to be in the computer because we don’t have the time for that,” Jennifer Mortazavi, Creek County Clerk, said.