DEERFIELD — The Selectboard authorized an agreement Wednesday evening to store town records from as far back as the 18th century at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA), nearly ending a year-long process that began with a radiator leak in February 2022.

The board voted to allow Town Administrator Kayce Warren to sign the agreement, which will have the town send its records from the 1888 Building, formerly known as the South County Senior Center, up Routes 5 and 10 to PVMA for safekeeping. The town will retain ownership of the records and will work with the museum to comply with public records requests.

There are thousands of historical documents in the 1888 Building’s vault ranging from vital town records, such as Town Meeting, Selectboard and proprietors’ records, to personal (chattel) mortgages and other lower-priority items like school taxes.

“[The town is required] to ‘preserve and safely keep’ every original paper belonging to the … town bearing a date earlier than 1870,’’ the draft agreement states, citing Massachusetts General Law, “and to do the same for all other town documents that are deemed to have historic value.”

Documents in the vault range from 1799 to the 1960s, along with records from the town’s fire and water districts, which are planning on collecting them in the near future. More recent records are kept at Town Hall.

PVMA Executive Director Tim Neumann said by phone on Friday that the agreement, which was spearheaded by resident and retired historian Peter Thomas, provides a mutual benefit for all parties involved — including Historic Deerfield, which will also have access to the records for research and educational programs.

“What’s satisfying is the feeling that the town welcomed our help to make them more available,” Neumann said. “It’s a location that’s good for the town and good for PVMA and its programs.”

If Deerfield were to reinforce its vault or create a new space for the records at any point, then it would be able to retrieve them with no impediment, other than a 30 days’ notice in writing to terminate the agreement. Otherwise, the agreement will be in effect until 2033. Deerfield and PVMA will review the document every two years.

With the documents being available to the town, PVMA, Historic Deerfield and the public (who must make a records request), Neumann said this is a strong agreement that helps preserve a historical resource.

“This material is important to be available to the public, and their lawyers,” Neumann said. For example, the town’s and residents’ lawyers have been going through documents to resolve whether Steam Mill Road is public way. “You have present-day issues that you need to look back in the past for.”

The process of moving the records kicked off in February 2022 when a radiator in the kitchen of the 1888 Building sprung a leak. The leak briefly attracted the attention of the Secretary of State’s Office due to the state’s requirements for permanently storing documents like Town Meeting records. Though the records avoided damage, the incident spurred town officials to seek alternative options for preservation while they mulled the future of the building.

The documents are stored in a vault that is permanently left open because nobody knows the combination and there is a dehumidifier constantly running that Thomas said is “just recirculating damp air.”

Neumann thanked Thomas, who is active with both PVMA and Historic Deerfield, for his work in bringing the two parties together, as well as volunteering hours of his time to digitize thousands of pages of records. In recent weeks, Thomas, who previously worked as a records preservation expert with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been preparing the documents for transportation by sorting and cleaning them in anticipation of the town and PVMA signing the agreement.

“It was not our approaching the town, it was a member of the town heading it up. That community involvement is very important to us,” Neumann said. “[Thomas] knows these records and how valuable they can be in telling the story [of Deerfield].”

Standing in the 1888 Building’s basement, Thomas said many of these documents will probably never be used by the general public, but they serve as an invaluable resource for historians tracing the town’s story through the centuries.

“Part of this is looking into the future,” said Thomas, who is also helping organize the town’s 350th birthday celebrations. “It seems appropriate with the 350th anniversary.”

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