The Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) Grant Review Board met on 8 December 2020 at the Library of Virginia to consider records preservation grant requests from circuit courts across the commonwealth. Five voting members comprise the board: three circuit court clerks, appointed by the president of the Virginia Court Clerks’ Association; and two staff members from the Library of Virginia, currently the state archivist and a senior local records archivist.
Board members meet once a year to evaluate applications. Clerks of the circuit courts are eligible to apply for funds to conserve, secure, and increase access to circuit court records. In all, 95 localities submitted 96 applications.
The board approved all 96 grant projects totaling $1,633,800. Ninety-two of the approved applications covered professional conservation treatment for almost 350 items including deed books, will books, land tax books, marriage licenses, minute books, and plat books, housed in circuit court clerks’ offices, which suffered damage from use, age, pests, water, or previous non-professional repairs. The remaining four grants funded records reformatting, storage, and a security system.
The Library of Virginia’s Government Records Division administers the CCRP. A $3.50 recordation fee on land instruments recorded in the circuit court clerks’ offices funds the program. The CCRP provides resources to preserve and make accessible Virginia’s permanent circuit court records. Since 1992, the CCRP has awarded over 1,800 preservation grants totaling over $24 million dollars.
To learn more about CCRP and read its newsletter please check out the LVA website. If you want to follow the travels of our archivists around the state as they apprise these records visit our Facebook.
Header Image Citation
Henrico County, Land Book, 1814-1818.