We are now working on Kennebec County books. they are covered with dust and that dust is the disintegrating cow hide binding. One of the first books we worked with completely fell apart.
I must say that the writing is spectacular.
The earliest book is dated 1799.
The earliest book we worked with in Hancock County was 1801.
I will post pictures on Monday because our connection with the internet through hotspot is weak and it uses up too many bytes to download pics here at home. The connection at the Archives is much faster.
I was indexing the other day and thought of you two when I downloaded a batch that was from the early 1800's--Ohio marriages. The handwriting was beautiful, but you could see in the image that the pages were rapidly deteriorating. It looked like there was no binding left. Just a bunch of crisp paper pages stacked one on top of the other. I can only imagine how carefully the digitizers had to be in handling that book. It made me appreciate all the more what you guys do.
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