Grant awarded in effort to preserve Madison County history

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — A county archive received a special grant Wednesday.

Local legislators joined Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett to present Madison County Archives with a check for $3,225.

“The Madison County Archives houses volumes of irreplaceable documents and records preserving the history of our community and our people,” Representative Chris Todd said.

The archival grant is funded by the Tennessee General Assembly and administered by the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Madison County Archivist Lorri Skelton says the money will be used to buy acid-free boxes to preserve chancery court records.

Hargett says they are one of the best ran archives in the state, all while working on a shoestring budget.

“It requires special materials and you’re talking about documents that go all the way back to the 1800s, so they do a lot of important work day in and day out to make sure that these records are here to preserve the history for our community and also so that citizens, as they need to see these documents, have access to them,” Hargett said.

Skelton says it was a nice Thanksgiving surprise to receive the grant and they are very grateful.

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