ORONO (AP) – A University of Maine librarian has uncovered minutes from trustee meetings dating back to the creation of the state’s flagship university 140 years ago.

“You couldn’t find anything more important. These are the earliest records of the university,” said Richard Hollinger, head of the Special Collections Department at UMaine’s Fogler Library.

Ever since arriving on campus five years ago, Hollinger has been searching for the notes that he said have been missing for decades.

The search began in earnest last fall after a $5,000 grant from the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board and matching funds from the university allowed him to hire an assistant to help locate early records and other archival material.

Hollinger found the missing trustee minutes six weeks ago while rummaging through a storeroom on the third floor of Alumni Hall.

At the bottom of one of the boxes were three leather-bound books filled with minutes from trustee meetings from 1865 to 1908.

Included were minutes of a trustees meeting on April 6, 1865, when the Orono campus was created. At the time, it was called the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. It didn’t become the University of Maine until 1897.

Hollinger said the documents easily could have been discarded. Instead, he wants to have them stored properly.

Every other land grant university in New England has what’s called “institutional archives,” which include presidents’ correspondence, newsletters, catalogs of classes, and student records, said Hollinger.

He hopes UMaine will be able to set aside money for such a collection so the story of the university can be found in one location.

The 1865 trustee notes would be “among the most used and most important” documents in the collection. “People always want to know how any institution began,” he said.