Grant funds digitizing city’s land records

TORRINGTON — The city has received a $6,500 grant from the Connecticut State Library, allowing it to continue digitizing historic land records, according to an announcement.

The funding was made available through the Historic Documents Preservation Program, officials said in a release.

It will “allow the Clerk’s office to continue their records conversion project which provides online access to land record images, and to purchase records storage equipment to meet current archival standards,” the release said.

Approximately 75 percent of city land records have been made available online at this time, officials said.

Mayor Elinor Carbone praised City Clerk Carol Anderson in the release for her efforts to obtain the funding.

“I am extremely grateful to City Clerk Carol Anderson for her diligence in identifying these grant opportunities and for her hard work in obtaining them. It is important that we continue to make records such as these available through our website and I’m pleased that the City of Torrington and our Clerk’s office is able to meet the needs of our residents and have these documents easily accessible,” said Carbone. The City Clerk’s office is one of our most widely used departments, and their staff work diligently to assist residents and customers alike.”

Anderson shared her pleasure at the financial award in the release.

“I look forward to completing our digital archive because the convenience of researching Torrington’s property records from the comfort of one’s home or office is important to our residents and real estate customers alike. Property record printouts through the city’s website generate over $5,000 in revenue every year, showing how popular this feature is,” said Anderson. “The grant monies will also be used for some much needed shelving for our archival records storage room which is used by a number of departments here in City Hall, so I’m very pleased we were awarded these funds.”