Rogers County Clerk's Office Preserving Historical Documents

The Rogers County Clerk's Office is working to preserve old documents.

Some of the documents date back to before Oklahoma was even a state.

When you flip through the pages of this book, you relive history from more than a hundred years ago.

Jeanne Heidlage is making sure the century-old documents stand the test of time.

"I mean, when you stop and think about if I don't take care of it, it's gone,” she said. “It could easily go by the wayside, and as a county clerk, it’s our job to preserve and maintain these records."

Some of the records include military documents from World War II and original allotment papers.

Heidlage says she found the book in bad condition, which started her mission to preserve the hard copies and make them available online.

"I ran across the book not too long into my term,” she said. “As I tried to get to know the office, looking in the crevices, I found this book underneath a cabinet. It was still out for anyone to look at or go through on the backside. I realized how it was deteriorating rapidly."

Heidlage says she's working to preserve more than a thousand books in her office.

It's a slow process, but she says it's important work.

"That's what we learn from. That is what we trace our roots to,” said Heidlage. “Somebody can walk into this office and actually trace their land back to the beginning of statehood and even before then. This is history we are going to lose if we choose to not take care of it."

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