Houlton archives room has increased security

HOULTON – When visitors go up to the archives room on the top floor of the Aroostook County Courthouse in Houlton, they will now see something else besides a vast library of antiquated newspapers – they’ll see a lock on the door that houses all of the archives.

But the room will continue to be accessible to the public, County Administrator Doug Beaulieu said Tuesday, now that Aroostook County commissioners have approved a plan to further secure and preserve the records in the room on the third floor of the building.

The records room is stacked full of newspapers published throughout Aroostook County that have been preserved in albums similar to scrapbooks.

Some date back to the late 1800s, and the albums contain newspapers that were published through the 1990s. Most are archived by year.

In the past, the room was open and accessible to anyone. All of that changed, however, after Bridgewater resident Toby Hall approached the group last month about preserving the history there for future generations.

Hall, a local history buff, told commissioners that his main concern about the former setup was security. He said last month that in his research, he had found a small number of articles in some papers had been clipped out.

Hall said that he believed steps needed to be taken to protect the archived newspaper collection from the ravages of time and potential tampering.

He also told the group he had seen an increase in the number of people frequenting the archives room, especially now that Houlton is preparing to celebrate its 200th birthday in June.

Under the new plan, Beaulieu explained Tuesday, any individual who wants to access the archives room will have to go to the patrol office of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department, which is on the second floor of the building. They must sign in at the desk and will then be given a key.

The room will only be accessible during normal business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday

At first, commissioners considered drafting a plan that would make the room accessible after hours, but Beaulieu said that the group thought that the recently adopted plan was more appropriate.

The policy took effect immediately when it was approved at the commissioner’s meeting in Caribou late last week.