Southampton - The past is being preserved and will be presented for view, thanks to the technological wonders of the present, as Southampton's historical records, many dating back to the 1600s, make their way on-line where they will be readily available to citizens and scholars on Southampton Town's website.

Additional photos of Westhampton Beach bridge (1928).

"We wanted to preserve our historical records, but more importantly we wanted to be able to share them," Southampton Town Clerk Sundy Schermeyer said as she described the on-going project to make town records dating back hundreds of years available on-line. The computer accessibility of these records is expected to be of great help to lawyers, scholars and amateur history buffs who will be able to point and click their way to the musty, obscure files that are now too fragile to handle.

The project, undertaken several years ago, has resulted in the completion of two volumes of records that are now available on-line.

"The First Book of Records of The Town of Southampton Along With Other 'Ancient Documents of Historic Value,'" dating from 1639 to 1660 and transcribed by William S. Pelletreau and "The Second Book of Records" from 1660 to 1717 are also available in hard copy, or, as they were formerly called, "books."

Schermeyer proudly held both paperback copies in her hands as she described the arduous process involved in compiling the two volumes. Ultimately, Schermeyer hopes to have a total of eight bound volumes available to the public via the website along with thousands of other town records.

Maps, documents, books, and photographs are all being photographed, scanned and sized so archivists can access the historical records. Schermeyer and her team of town employees have managed by trial and error to arrive at their current methodology without incurring any additional budgetary expense.

Petition from 1911 when the voters petitioned for the building of the Beach Lane bridge in Westhampton Beach at the cost of $12,000.

"We are very fortunate that Sundy came along when she did," Dr. Henry Moeller said. "She is a real leader." Schermeyer also had the right stuff, according to Dr. Moeller who was ready to throw his hands up and abandon any systematic attempt to make town records more readily available to the public.

"Sundy is well versed in the new technology so she could make decisions about which scanner to get. She is ideally equipped to do what she is doing now," Dr. Moeller added.

Dr. Moeller, a retired marine biologist and avid history buff, became involved in the preservation of the town records in the 1960s when he was hired as a town researcher and also functioned as a town historian.

"People were always asking for town records," Dr. Moeller recalled. "Lawyers would come in and request a document and expect to have it in five minutes."

While speed may have been of the essence for the person making the request, time was not an issue for town officials charged with storing these records which often contain critical information.

"The records were scattered. They weren't organized. It was difficult to find anything in a timely matter," Schermeyer concurred.

The often historic one-of-a-kind documents dating back decades, if not centuries, were also fragile and in many cases could not be handled frequently without risking their ultimate demise. The documents were encased in protective mylar covers and kept under lock and key, viewed in many cases by appointment only under close supervision. Too, the records remained at risk from storms and potential fires.

Herrick's Hardware Store, Main Street, Southampton, 1895.

"My wife and I are both scholars," Dr. Moeller said, speaking via telephone from his home in rural California as he prepared to do research at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. "We were accustomed to the way the major libraries in the world preserved their records." Dr. Moeller noted the presence of Southampton Town records in the Huntington Library, named after Henry Huntington, Long Island resident and railroad tycoon, who happened to be a book buff, transporting railroad cars filled with books from coast to coast.

The Old Whalers Church, Sag Harbor, 1938

At that time Dr. Moeller found himself presiding over the town records with a sense of despair and was on the verge of abandoning his mission until Schermeyer took office as town clerk in 2006.

"We had some lengthy meetings in my office and we decided to move ahead with the on-line project," Schermeyer said.

The project is also wholeheartedly supported by Zachary Studenroth, an architectural historian and curator of the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. Studenroth is also an avid researcher by virtue of his professional calling.

"I was working with big maps that were hard to handle," Studenroth said, noting he quickly gained the help of Schermeyer as her project progressed. "Making these maps available on-line along with other historical records will be a boom to researchers everywhere," Studenroth said.

The Suffolk County Historical Society has expressed an interest in partnering with the town to share and preserve their records as well.

Jobs Lane and Main Street, Southampton, 1910.

Schermeyer is also spreading the word, speaking at historical societies around the South Fork. "I want people to know what we are doing. I would also like to make the books available to the public," Schermeyer said, pointing to the case of bound volumes, One and Two, behind her desk.

"Southampton is one of the first and one of the few towns statewide to be putting their records on-line," Studenroth said.

Now that's one for the history books.

Bridge (1928) in Westhampton Beach. Photos provided courtesy of Sundy Schermeyer and Southampton Town Historic Division