The process of digitizing the original Church Register is underway!
At the beginning of the project it was discovered the original binding had completely disintegrated and the pages were in no clear order. The original registers were not page numbered from the publisher or hand-numbered at any time during the first years of the church. The first review was somewhat discouraging. The format of the register was clearly intended to be facing pages, two per record set, but neither the surname or record number were recorded on any ‘second’ page.
Some additional research on the 1890 publication information of the register book led researchers to a copy of another church register. The Krum Class M. E. So. register, with the same publication date of 1890, is part of the Portal of Texas History website. Their digital record, which can be viewed here (LINK), let us re-order our register pages in the correct sequence.
After the register pages were re-ordered, permanent preservation began.
Due to the age of the document and preservation challenges related to Arizona weather (extreme heat and very low humidity) the first step was archive tissue between each page to prevent further deterioration from contact friction. The tissue will buffer each page from the next.
Our next step will be photographing each page. This step will allow us to create working copies. Copies can be used to complete the digital database of the information from the period of 1910 through approximately 1930 while preventing further ‘handling damage’ and deterioration of the original record.
Photographs will also be used to create a display of the original register for members and visitors.
Check back from time to time and see the progress!