New Haven County Court Records

Meet Our Library Staff!

Last month, we profiled our student interns. Today, in honor of Archives Month, we highlight the work of our skilled and hardworking State Library staff. Their diligence and dedication to the Uncovering New Haven project plays a crucial role in our efforts to preserve these court records and make them more widely accessible to the public.

Lisa Lew, Library Aide

Lisa carefully peruses a very, very, very long court record. Paper size was not standardized in the eighteenth century, so documents could come in any and every dimension—and often did!

What do you do at the Connecticut State Library?

I process collections of records by arranging them for easier access, sometimes create container lists, find architectural drawings on occasion, and work on any special projects as needed.

What aspects of the Uncovering New Haven project do you work on, and how often over the course of a day/week/month/etc. do you assist with the project?

I work almost daily processing court records arranged by years and court sessions, flattening and unfolding each court case carefully, enfolding in acid free paper which I then label with the parties’ names of the suit, docket numbers and court sessions. Then I arrange the total number of cases within each session in alphabetical order by plaintiffs.

What is the most interesting, memorable, surprising, and/or bizarre thing(s) you’ve found while processing the court records?

Assault cases when parties used objects like mops and chairs. Cases involving women to see what their roles were like during the 1700s and 1800s. A case involving a dispute over ownership of pew seats in church.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experience working on this project?

I like to figure out cursive handwriting in the documents. It’s also fun to learn more history from seeing actual records that had not been uncovered yet. It’s good to be able to read court records that have lasted hundreds of years.

The phrase “Time Traveling” caught Lisa’s eye while she was processing this court record. Although the meaning of these words differs in the document, the phrase coincidentally echoes the first sentence of this blog: looking at court records from previous eras is an interesting form of time travel.

Todd Gabriel, Library Technical Assistant

Todd meticulously scans his way through a folder of court records selected for digitization. These cases involve marginalized peoples, women, minors, the disabled, the impoverished, prominent people, and other subjects of state, regional, and national interest to researchers.

What do you do at the Connecticut State Library?

I do an off-site retrieval of records on a daily basis, as well as any donor acquisitions that may need picking up. When I am not doing that, I process and scan records and collections.

What aspects of the Uncovering New Haven project do you work on, and how often over the course of a day/week/month/etc. do you assist with the project?

I started unfolding the court documents, labeling them, and putting them in order, while also scanning cases involving marginalized groups. Now with the large number of documents to be scanned, all my time on the project is spent scanning. Half of my time daily is spent scanning court documents.

What is the most interesting, memorable, surprising, and/or bizarre thing(s) you’ve found while processing the court records?

The most interesting thing I have come across was the Benedict Arnold court cases. They brought to life his ever-so-popular history.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experience working on this project?

It’s exciting to be part of a project like this. It is important to preserve this collection and get it out there for people to use.

A court case awaiting digitization.

Barbara Austen, Digital Records Archivist

To aid Barbara in digitizing the court records, we create metadata about every single case and enter it into a spreadsheet (shown only in part due to its complexity)—including relevant subject terms that will enable researchers and investigators to ultimately find these resources. This requires a great deal of work and is one of the reasons we are not able to digitize all of the court records.

What do you do at the Connecticut State Library?

I make sure records that are sent to us electronically, or which we have digitized, are properly preserved in the Connecticut Digital Archive, after determining their historic value and adding lots of descriptive terms so people can find the records.

What aspects of the Uncovering New Haven project do you work on, and how often over the course of a day/week/month/etc. do you assist with the project?

I create the metadata to describe each document using information provided by the project staff, upload the images of the documents to a secure server at UConn, and then upload the metadata. Finding proper subject headings that are not discriminatory can be a challenge, but we are all getting better at that.

What is the most interesting, memorable, surprising, and/or bizarre thing(s) you’ve found while processing the court records?

I am struck by the number of cases for debt, and how the same names keep coming up. Evidently people were quite willing to go to court to get their money back, even though there could be additional court costs.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experience working on this project?

Since my position deals exclusively with electronic records, I enjoy the opportunity to look at the scanned documents and read the handwriting and to savor the turns of phrase used in the 18th century.

Taking the metadata and scanned images that we provide, Barbara expertly uploads court cases to the Connecticut Digital Archive—enabling the public to have free and immediate access to these important historical treasures.

The Connecticut State Library would like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for their generous support of this project.