BERNARDSTON — With a historical records strategic assessment in hand, the Town Clerk’s Office is looking to improve its cataloging of historical records and artifacts, and make climate-control improvements to the town vault.
In December, the town applied for and was awarded a grant through the State Historical Records Advisory Board’s Roving Archivist Program. Assistant Town Clerk Sarah Brown-Anson said the award was not a monetary grant, but rather a service one. With the award, the state board paid for an archivist, Tom Doyle, to take a look at the town’s record-keeping systems and storage spaces. They received his report earlier this month.
“We talked about some of the processes we use, and we went to the different locations where records are kept,” Brown-Anson said. “Their professional recommendations, they really came from an archivist’s point of view, and archivists like to catalog things. That’s one of the biggest areas of growth, or areas we could improve, is by cataloging all our historical objects, papers and records that the Town Clerk’s Office has.”
Brown-Anson has been working in the Town Clerk’s Office since April 2025, and said she’s been learning how the town manages records in preparation to take over when Town Clerk Christina Slocum-Wysk retires later this year. As part of this, she’s been looking at ways to improve the town’s record-keeping systems.
“The town of Bernardston really cares about stewardship of historical documents and we’re really trying to improve,” Brown-Anson said. “As someone who’s new to the town clerk world, I can see the legacy of each town clerk that came before me and the care that was put into the work. We’re always trying to improve and each person can improve a little bit, so it gets better over time.”
In his assessment, Doyle wrote that as the town prepares for a transition in leadership, improvements in cataloging and documenting the records are particularly important.
“The town of Bernardston holds historic records that document the rich history of town government since its founding. Over the years, considerable effort has gone into caring for these collections,” Doyle wrote in his report. “With the upcoming change in leadership, [the town of Bernardston] has an opportunity to improve the management of these historic records by taking the steps outlined in this report.”
The town keeps some records at Town Hall, and others in a vault in the basement of the Cushman Library. Records include meeting minutes; vital records such as birth, death and marriage certificates; and school and church records. Brown-Anson said these are considered de facto town records, as in the early years of the town’s history, churches kept records on births, deaths and marriages.
Since Bernardston just received the report, she said the town has not yet made specific plans for implementation, but considering that cataloging could be a long and time-consuming process, the town will likely look into hiring a professional service or library student to come in for a cataloging project.
The report recommends more detailed labeling, being considerate of book bindings while storing items and digitizing records.
“Besides cataloging, another recommendation was climate control, so I’ve been looking into what we could buy that would be within a reasonable budget that would monitor the humidity and temperature in the vault,” Brown-Anson said.
The town vault uses an analog thermometer and barometer to measure the temperature and humidity, which town officials try to keep at room temperature, though it can be difficult to monitor.
“Another recommendation in the report is having a monitor on the floor, which we don’t think is an imminent risk,” Brown-Anson continued. “It’s a stable vault, but in terms of temperature and humidity, we do want to be continuously monitoring it.”
Doyle’s report notes that the room has a heater but not a cooling system, and its thermometers must be calibrated and cannot always be considered accurate. Upgrades to these systems are recommended. The report also recommends creating security, disaster and pest management plans.
The full strategic assessment can be found at townofbernardston.org/town-clerk.