SOUTH DEERFIELD — While the risk of damage is low, a recent radiator leak at the South County Senior Center has accelerated town officials’ efforts to move records stored in the building’s vault.
The leak, which occurred in the kitchen away from the vault, has attracted the attention of the Secretary of State’s Office, which is the governing body of town documents across the state, as municipalities are required by law to protect historical records.
Deb O’Malley, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said her office is looking into what exactly happened.
“We’ve been in touch with the town administrator’s office,” O’Malley said. “Once they have more information, they’ll be sending the state archivist to do a site visit.”
Several people in town said records being stored in the Senior Center has been a persistent issue and the leak is driving it to the forefront, even if it’s not serious.
“This has been an ongoing issue,” said Historical Commission Chair John Nove. “The leak is almost irrelevant, except for pushing us to do things faster.”
The vault contains thousands upon thousands of town records from at least the 17th century, of which more than 6,000 have been digitized. Peter Thomas, a retired historian in Deerfield working on creating digital copies of the documents, said there are still thousands more to go through. Thomas also helped lead the steeple repairs at the South Deerfield Congregational Church in November.
“Deerfield is probably one of the most documented towns in the state,” Thomas said, “in terms of the records that it’s got.”
O’Malley said the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, which is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), reached out to the Secretary of State’s Office after Thomas called them seeking advice. Thomas said he worked for FEMA for several years and was seeking friendly advice.
“I think what happened is the woman at FEMA actually called the Secretary of State’s Office,” Thomas said. “I may have started something I didn’t want to.”
The challenge, Nove said, is dealing with potential mold contamination as the documents have been stored in the building for three decades.
“The catch is, how do you go in and rescue all this stuff?” Nove said. “That’s what we’re trying to resolve in the next week or so.”
Nove said “things are in the process of happening,” as a solution of having the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) store the documents is being worked out. The town also has documents in another vault in the town clerk’s office, which Nove said will also be moved if a deal is made with PVMA.
“All these things are waiting to fall into place,” Nove said. “If this stuff turns out to be mold contaminated, then we’re not going to want to move it to PVMA until it’s dealt with.”
The PVMA move is being spearheaded by Thomas. He said his plan is to “give (the town) a solution, not just a problem.”
“I think, ultimately, that is a good solution because they are already archiving Deerfield records,” Thomas said of PVMA. “I’m optimistic that we’ve got a seemingly viable solution and if we can move forward with getting that accomplished, we’ll have succeeded.”
Thomas said the records should be moved to a more secure place, as the vault is always slightly cracked open, exposing the documents to the building’s mold issues, because nobody knows the combination to the vault. He added the records are essential to telling the history of Deerfield and the region as a whole.
“That’s a resource that we can’t afford to lose,” Thomas said. “It’s one of those things where if we lose this stuff, it’ll never get corrected.”
O’Malley said these documents will not be taken under the care of the Secretary of State’s Office, but the office will assist the town if needed.
“These are not records we would be taking custody of,” O’Malley said. “We do offer assistance to the towns for the best way for them to retain their records, though.”
As the Secretary of State’s Office gathers more information, O’Malley said the state archivist will visit Deerfield to help the town with planning for the documents’ future.
“If these are historic records, time is of the essence,” O’Malley said. “Once mold gets in there, it’s hard to get out. … Our archivist will be going to the area and make a recommendation.”