Can you imagine donating over 100 hours of your time to preserving Westchester County’s history?  Not only have many Volunteers in Archives done so over the past 18 years, but a special few have actually given over 1,000 hours a piece to this effort.

 On November 15, when 24 Westchester County Archives volunteers were honored at an annual awards luncheon, John Perney and Tom Martinetti, both of White Plains, received special recognition from Chief Information Officer Norm Jacknis for reaching the 1,000-hour milepost.

In addition to the achievements of Martinetti and Perney, long-time volunteer Yole de Blasio of Hastings-on-Hudson was also honored for giving over 2,000 hours to the research center’s indexing projects.  Thanks to her efforts, thousands of older marriage records are now available to family historians.

The Volunteers in Archives (VIA) program, begun in 1989, now includes 24 active, trained volunteers who help make Westchester’s historic public records available to researchers at the facility in Elmsford.  Together they have given 2,964 hours in 2007 alone!

The Archives contains a rich source of materials dating from the 17th century to the present and includes maps, photographs, marriage records, court records, wills and county deeds.  Volunteers assist in the Reading Room, open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and/or work with original documents performing data entry and transcription tasks to improve access to the records, as well as undertaking conservation work of all kinds, from re-formatting video tapes to placing over-sized maps in special Mylar sleeves. 

To discover how to join the Volunteers in Archives program, please contact Diana Deichert, Volunteer Coordinator, Westchester County Archives at 914-231-1525. For more information or photos, visit www.westchestergov.com/wcarchives/volunteers_in_archives.htm