Keeping the past alive
Council’s Cemetery Administrator Carolyn Jones and Archivist Wendy Harnett with one of the registers that has been scanned
Burial records dating from the 1880s have been preserved for the future thanks to a collaboration between Council’s Heritage Marlborough and Parks and Open Spaces teams.
Four old leather-bound cemetery burial and plot registers have been professionally scanned to ensure their longevity.
One register came from Omaka, one from Havelock and two from Picton.
Due to their age and significance, this was the best option to ensure the valuable information within was safeguarded for the future, Council’s Archivist Wendy Harnett said.
“After obtaining quotes and considering the best options, the registers were couriered to Crown Records Management where they were carefully deconstructed so the pages could be scanned to an archival quality,” she said.
“They were then returned to Council with a PDF document of each now held in our digital filing system.”
Given the success of this project, the Council’s Heritage team is investigating whether other cemetery records should be scanned.
“With a growing demand from those researching their genealogy, we are hoping to make these records available on our website in the near future,” she said.
