OXFORD — About half a dozen town record books, some with paper likely made from recycled soldiers’ uniforms from the 1800s, are being restored by a Vermont company.

Town Clerk Beth Olsen said the records, some of which were believed destroyed in a fire Jan. 31, 1890, at a former town hall, were found in the basement vault of the Municipal Building on Pleasant Street.

“Prior to 1892, all vital records were recorded at the town level only, therefore there were no backup records to those that were lost,” she said.

Olsen said once the records were discovered and assessed it was apparent something had to be done to save them.

Voters last June agreed to raise $20,000 and Kofile Technologies in Essex, Vermont, was contracted to begin restoring and conserving the documents.

“We work mostly with town records,” Joe Degnan said.

The company has been preserving town records for almost 60 years. 

Oxford’s records have been damaged by the acidic quality of the ink used at the time.

“Most of the Oxford records we’re working on are written in iron gall ink,” Bill Stewart of Kofile Technologies said.

The purple-black or brown-black ink was made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources. It was very common in the 1800s because it was considered inexpensive and readily available. 

The problem, Degnan said, is that the ink tended to bleed through older paper, particularly recycled paper.

In Oxford, as was common elsewhere, the town clerks sometimes used what are called “blue paper.”

“The blue paper is a combination of old uniforms, other scraps of material from the textile industry, rags and wood pulp that was combined and dyed blue. It’s just a real nasty quality paper,” Stewart said.

The first set of books, four volumes from between 1892 and 1944, and two volumes of vital records from 1892, were sent to the company last year.

Degnan said the process involves removing the cover boards and stitching. The paper is lightly surface cleaned, rips and tears are mended using Japanese tissue, and folios are reinforced.

The key, he said, is to reduce the acid.

Some records, written on very fragile paper, are put into archival polyester sleeves. That allows record keepers and the public, where appropriate, to handle them without getting oils from their fingers on the paper, which would continue to disintegrate them.

Still in the vault are records from the 1940s. Olsen said it appears the town clerk did affidavits from friends and neighbors to have a record of births.

Town officials hope voters will appropriate more money at the June 9 annual town meeting to continue the project, Olsen said.

Oxford Town Clerk Beth Olsen looks at 50- to 60-year-old town records that need to be preserved. (Leslie Dixon/Advertiser Democrat)

A well-worn Oxford town record book is being restored in Vermont. (Photo courtesy of town of Oxford)