st-historian
Another County Record Collection is Completed
Archives News
Written by Katie Fichtner, Archives Assistant   

LancasterHistory.org is caretaker of hundreds of thousands of historic county records, and that responsibility is not taken lightly. With the aid of a diligent group of volunteers the record group, Indictments, has been completely processed. "Processed" meaning each document is preserved in acid-free inserts, with its vital information entered into our PastPerfect database. This achievement was no easy task, for the Indictment collection has over 30,000 individual documents, spanning the years 1744 through 1902, and taking the volunteers and staff years to complete.

Indictments, records from the Court of Quarter Sessions, are formal accusations submitted to a grand jury charging a person or persons of a crime. If the grand jury finds the defendant guilty, the indictment becomes a true bill and the case continues. If not, than the case is ignored or dismissed and the charges are dropped. Information that can be quickly gleaned from an indictment includes names of defendants, witnesses, and victims; the crime and the court term.

However, it is important to not take this collection only at face value, but rather be open to see how it can be used in a variety of ways. The wide range of years that this collection covers provides a magnitude of opportunities for researchers. For example, arguments can be supported on both sides of how times have changed, and yet at the same time how they have not. One could argue that law evolves as society evolves. Case in point, while it may be no longer illegal to sell liquor on Sundays, selling liquor to minors continues to be. But some could use these historic documents to argue that society has not truly evolved at all as violence, corruption, and deception continue to plague society, same as it did in 1801.

While a genealogy researcher may not be thrilled to find out that their great, great, great, great uncle was a thug, that same document may be the only key to unlocking the mystery of that uncle's very existence. And there are a multitude of other ways that researchers can use this collection to study law, technology, women's history, economics, and yes, even crime.

The information for this record group is currently accessible to patrons on-site using one of the OPAC computer terminals in the Reading Room of the Library.
 
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Our Volunteers & Interns

Building a Tour

faith_spring_2010

Faith McCarrick is a senior history major at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This semester she has been interning in both the archives and education departments at LancasterHistory.Org. In the archives department, she found herself creating box lists of manuscript groups that covered the history of the United Steel Workers Union in Lancaster and the writings of Jewish World War II veteran and journalist, Charles H. Kessler.  Read more...

Parks and Recreation

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Amy Noll is a New Hampshire native who graduated with her B.A. in History and Management from Gettysburg College in 2007.  She received her M.L.S. with a specialization in Archives, Records, and Information Management from the University of Maryland in 2009, and recently moved into the Lancaster area.  She has past experience working at the National Archives and is also a Civil War Reenactor.  In the Archives, Amy is working on the Lancaster Recreation Commission Records manuscript group.  She has found many interesting records about past recreational programming for senior citizens as well as records detailing the creation and acquisition of some of Lancaster’s most well known public parks.

Diplomacy

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Alex Trimble is a senior at Elizabethtown Area High School. His primary focus of study has been in history and social sciences. During his internship at the James Buchanan Wheatland mansion he will be conducting research on James Buchanan's diplomatic mission to Russia.

That girl has Moxie!

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My name is Julianne Petrillo.  I am a freshman at Lancaster Catholic High School.  I enjoy learning about history, so I am volunteering this summer at LancasterHistory.org, Lancaster County’s Historical Society and President James Buchanan’s Wheatland.  At the Historical Society I volunteer in the archives department.  I studied receipts from a store in Lancaster during the 1920s.  I learned so much about items being sold back then and was amazed at how old some of my favorite snacks were such as Life Savers, Oreos, taffy, saltines, and Moxie.  At Wheatland I volunteer for special events giving tours as well as helping dust the antique furniture.  I enjoy working at the Historical Society and Wheatland very much and hope to be back next summer!

Living History

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At the time of her internship Katelynn Stauffer will be a rising sophomore at Gettysburg College, where she will be majoring in History and Political Science with minors in Education and Civil War Era Studies. While interning at Wheatland she will be working on the creation of a new living history tour that will examine the war years at Wheatland.  She will be organizing volunteers and setting up a test run of the program for the public.

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