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Thursday, August 11, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - Delaware County records available online

A story today in the Muncie Star-Press by Keith Roysdon reports:

MUNCIE - Mary Lou Gentis gestured toward rows of bound county records on a shelf at the Muncie Public Library's Local History and Genealogy Center.

"These draw attention," Gentis said.

The books are labeled, in stark capital letters, "INSANE RECORD."

The books - bound collections of Delaware County court mental health proceedings prior to 1927 - are vivid reminders of a less politically correct time, before court cases for people treated for mental illness were "mainstreamed" and filed along with other court proceedings.

The records are among millions of pages of early Delaware County court records that are, slowly and painstakingly, being digitally recorded and offered for public inspection.

The "Insane Record" volumes are on shelves at the downtown history center, along with a diverse collection of tax records, probate proceedings and other documents.

"We have records of the county board of commissioners paying for wolf scalps," Gentis said. "It gives you an idea of what the county was like at the time."

The court records have made their way to the library's shelves through various routes.

Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger made an agreement with the library several years ago to provide old county records for digitizing and posting on the library's Internet site, www.munpl.org

Other records are among those saved by historian Althea Stoeckle, who rescued them from the former county courthouse as it was being razed in the 1960s.

Here, from the Delaware County Court Database, is a description of that database's scope:
This database contains indexing and images of the Delaware County Civil and Criminal court cases. The cases date back to the beginning of Delaware County, 1827 and up to the 1950s. The criminal cases are complete; the civil cases are in progress. As of April, 2005 we have entered civil cases up to 1882. The database is a work in progress, with cases added daily.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 11, 2005 08:49 AM
Posted to Indiana Government