Library & Archives Reaches Microfilm Milestone

The Research Center has reached a new milestone, thanks to the work of our two volunteers, Nita Freer and Rochelle Putnam. Since March 2016, Nita had been working on the Microfilm Inventory Project, reviewing and creating an inventory of the numerous microfilm reels available in the Library & Archives.  In 2018, Rochelle joined the project and together they physically reviewed every microfilm reel frame-by-frame for a total of 1047 reels.  Not only did they inventory all the microfilm reels, they also rehoused each one in acid-free boxes and properly labeled every microfilm box for more efficient access.

Both volunteers are pleased to report that this inventory was completed as of September 2021. 56 newspaper titles were recorded from 711 newspaper microfilm reels. 306 non-newspaper microfilm reels were inventoried, which includes Yavapai County and State of Arizona various legal/court records, coroner’s inquests, medical data, marriage license data, naturalization data, Fort Whipple postal returns, Sanborn Fire Map data, etc. In addition, they rehoused thirty (30) microfilm reels from the Andrew Wallace Collection. 

This announcement is great news for the general public and researchers alike, as the next step will be cataloging the microfilm reels. The title records will be available in the Yavapai Library Network catalog, which can be seen by not only the Prescott/Yavapai County community but accessed by the entire online world.