PARIS — Oxford County’s land records for the past 210 years have been moved back to Maine after spending the past decade in an underground vault in Pennsylvania. 

The Oxford County Registry of Deeds has moved its entire microfilm collection, consisting of 1.6 million images of deeds, mortgages, leases, liens and loans to the Maine State Archives in Augusta. 

The collection, which catalogs the county’s land records since its formation in 1805, was previously stored in an underground vault at Iron Mountain Inc.’s data management storage center in Boyers, Pa. Documents are stored inside a former limestone mine at depths sometimes several hundred feet below the surface, according to the company’s website. 

In explaining the move, Patricia Shearman, register of deeds for the Eastern Office in Paris, said her key concern was quality control of documents she could neither see nor obtain regular updates on.

“Microfilm seems like a thing of the past, but it’s a key to the future should something go wrong,” Shearman said.

The transfer of records from the Paris and Fryeburg deeds offices was made last week when Shearman drove a minivan and collected approximately 30 cardboard boxes from the site. After cataloguing the contents at the deeds office, the records were transported to a secure, windowless room at the Maine State Archives. 

Shearman said she retrieved and delivered the collection because UPS and FedEx couldn’t guarantee the temperature-controlled transportation. Though several other counties keep their records with Iron Mountain, more are returning them to the state archives. 

“We feel it would be a natural fit for the register of deeds to work with the Maine State Archives in terms of education and protecting the archives,” she said. 

The microfilm is a backup copy of the original deed, which is usually in the author’s possession. Until 2004, the registry printed paper copies in books, which are still at the registry.  

In the past decade, the registry has ceased printing the books, recording them digitally, which are backed up on a secure server outside the deed office. An outside company still produces microfilm — roughly 4,000 new images are copied a week — which up until a few weeks ago were shipped Pennsylvania. 

Officials with the Maine State Archives were not available for commend Wednesday afternoon. 

Shearman said the importance of physical records remains paramount in an age of digitization. By statute, the registry is required to keep a permanent copy of most land records indefinitely.  

 As digital file formats change, there’s concern that the quality of the copy could diminish. 

“As we have digital migration from one vendor to the next, we have to ensure it’s readable,” Shearman said.

She cited recent examples where registries in other counties were forced to reprint physical paper books from their microfilm backups after the books were damaged. Microfilm is rated to last 500 years and can be read by holding it up to the light without an external device. However, if it is damaged, the records could be lost. 

“You’re constantly refining the quality of your backups. This gives us that opportunity,” Shearman said. 

ccrosby@sunmediagroup.net 

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