STAUNTON – Augusta County Clerk of Circuit Court R. Steven Landes announced today that his office has updated and made improvements to the new digital online historic record online archive portal for Augusta County records.

     “We are excited to announce this new and improved online archive portal for Augusta County historic records,” Landes said. “Due to the creativity and hard work of our Historic Records Assistant Matthew Wingfield, and our Historic Records Volunteers we will now be able to digitize and make available even more significant historic records.”

     To make more of Augusta County’s significant historic records available in digital form online, the Clerk’s Office announced in February of 2021, the new historic record archive portal linked from the Augusta County Circuit Court Clerk’s webpage. The new updated site will be powered by OMEKA.

     OMEKA is a web publishing platform for sharing digital collections and creating media-rich online exhibits.

     The new updated site will allow for better organization of the digital records and offer an improved search engine. Using OMEKA’s software the Clerk’s Office will now be able to sort similar documents into easily searchable collections. Documents can now be read online via an embedded pdf format rather than downloading the document separately. The site can be accessed via the Clerk’s Office webpage or by visiting https://acch.omeka.net.

     The Augusta County Circuit Court Clerk is the steward of historic records dating back to 1745. The Clerk’s Offices throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia possess a wealth of historic records. These historic records require constant protection and preservation work to ensure these artifacts remain in existence for future generations. The digitization of historic records makes them accessible for many more citizens.

     The Augusta County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office is in downtown Staunton at the Augusta County Courthouse. The Clerk serves as the recorder of deeds and probate judge, issues marriage licenses and is the official court administrator for all civil and criminal cases. The Clerk creates and maintains all court files and records, prepares court orders and jury lists, contacts jurors and issues summons and court processes. More information about the services of the Augusta County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office can be found online at https://www.co.augusta.va.us/government/circuit-court-clerk.