LISBON – The town of Lisbon has received a $2,000 grant from the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The funds will help Lisbon preserve and provide better access to the historical collections in the town hall vault.

Town Clerk Twila Lycette said, “This is a wonderful opportunity for Lisbon to improve access to the information in our vault. Many of the records moved from the old town hall were randomly placed upon the shelves, which now need to be organized so that we can locate important data. This grant will also help Lisbon determine which records need to be restored and permanently retained.”

With studies showing that cultural resources are important in decisions to locate businesses or to choose a community in which to retire, the grants sustain the basic infrastructure of this key sector of the economy.

“They support community efforts to protect the stories of our birth, property rights, government and how we lived our lives,” said Jim Henderson, director of the Maine State Archives. “People need to document their birth or naturalization to obtain a passport or to get medical care; others research their property boundaries; some seek long-lost relatives or to understand the history of the old saw mill down the road. Without these precious records, most questions like this would remain unanswered.”

Small grants have stimulated local residents and organizations to commit more of their own resources to these projects.

The Historical Collections Grant Program has been a joint project of the Maine State Museum and the Maine State Archives, a bureau within the Department of the Secretary of the State.

For more information, call Janet Roberts at 287-5791, or e-mail [email protected].