Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society

Scanning and Preserving the Lancaster County Marriage Records

Background

In 1987 LLCGS learned that the County was discarding many of the original marriage record books. The Society was able to salvage the first 26 books and they are now stored in the Union College Library in a locked closet. Sadly, some of the books were already gone. Eventually LLCGS took possession of all the remaining marriage books up to 1955. Most of these books are big (11x17 inches) and very heavy. A portion of the records are actually stored in boxes instead of bound volumes, but they are still referred to as “books” for continuity. All of the records in our possession have been indexed and the names of the brides and grooms are searchable on our website database. Each entry gives the book and page number.

These volumes had been microfilmed back in the 1960s, but apparently the quality of the images was poor. In fact, the Nebraska State Historical Society refers people to us to get a better quality copy. 

For the summer of 2016, a record number of students have applied for work at the Union College Library. Director Sabrina Riley has offered to share 40 hours a week - 2 students, 20 hrs. each - for this scanning project. Salary expenses would be $9.50 per hour plus 7.65% for FICA/social security for a total of $10.23/hr. The students can probably work about 520 hours for us, which includes some unpaid vacation. Although they may not be able to get all our marriage records scanned, they could make quite a bit of progress. 

520 hours x $10.23/hr. = $5,320.00 Goal

Join us in helping to preserve the history of Lancaster County, NE with your contibution. Thank you for your support!