Volunteer  Month

The Indiana State Archives’ collections include many unprocessed records, which can be challenging or impossible for genealogists to use. Thanks to our volunteers, we’ve been able to make more and more of these collections accessible. For example, volunteers worked hard to process and index our collection of Marion County Will Records. We currently have a volunteer working on a similar project with wills from Jefferson County.

Volunteer Sally Small is currently working on a project to index the Secretary of State’s Record of Commission collection. The books date from 1823 to 1972 and include information submitted by each county regarding their county officers and terms. Most books give the office title, name, date of commission, length of term, and sometimes the reason for the official’s departure. The books include county offices such as justices of the peace, sheriffs, surveyors, coroners, clerks, recorders, and judges. Some books include additional state offices, like secretary to the governor, State Prison superintendent, and State Bank director, among others.

When asked about “cool finds” in the collection, Sally noted three things. First, the way women began taking office early. Women would sometimes be appointed to office when their husbands died during term. Sally explained that women by the 1960s women started to be elected regularly. They became elected most frequently to the offices of recorder, treasurer, auditor, and clerk. There were few female coroners and no women surveyors during the period covered by the books.

Second, the way you can trace the changes in office terms stood out to Sally. People took office immediately after the elections until the early 20^th century but gradually shifted to January 1^st. Sally is currently working on the seventh, and final, book of the collection and noted that some offices still had odd transition dates.