Plainfield Library awarded Illinois History Digital Imaging Grant

The Library’s grant, Preserving Plainfield’s History, will digitize historic Plainfield and Wheatland Township government books and ledgers as well as Plainfield subdivision maps and other historic maps. “This is a wonderful opportunity to digitally reunite collections that have been scattered over time and make them available online, for free to local residents and researchers around the world” said Reference Librarian Tina Beaird, who wrote the grant. The grant affords an opportunity to hire Northern Micrographics, a highly respected digitization company in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to scan and preserve the large format maps and fragile books. The items will be available July of 2019 on the Illinois Digital Archives website (www.idaillinois.org).

This is the second time the Plainfield Public Library has been awarded a grant to preserve Plainfield’s History. In 2009, the Library was awarded an LSTA grant from the State Library. This grant was used to digitize Will County Recorder of Deeds indexes from 1836-1885, Will County maps and historic Plainfield photos. These images can be found on the Illinois Digital Archives website.

According to the Secretary of State website, the Illinois History Digital Imaging grant program provides funding for eligible libraries to carry out projects involving the selection, digital capture, storage and provision of web access to their important historical and cultural collections. Digital Imaging grants support the creation of digital collections while at the same time expanding access to those collections via the Illinois Digital Archive.

Any questions regarding the Historical Preservation grants please contact Tina Beaird at tbeaird@plainfieldpubliclibrary.org