Showing just how important volunteers are to the operation of the Westchester County Archives, Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett presented 21 certificates of appreciation at a Nov. 18 annual awards luncheon.

Speaking in County Executive Robert P. Astorino’s absence, Plunkett noted that during tough economic times the work of the county’s many volunteers make the difference in delivering services. In this case, the cause is historical research and preservation of the county’s rich documents for their access by future generations.

The V.I.A, program grew this year to include a total of 34 volunteers who will contribute a total of over 3,200 hours in 2010. They assist the public in the Reading Room with their reference requests and support various projects to "process" the archival documents for their future access by the public. These projects may include re-foldering documents, indexing them, performing data entry and quality control of these entries, scanning photographs and cataloging them with specialized software to enhance online access.

"None of the various online databases – those containing marriage, incorporation, naturalization, surrogates and district attorney records – would be possible without this tremendous gift of time from our volunteers," stated Patty Dohrenwend, director of the Archives & Records Center. "Their hard work over the past 25 years has enriched our website at http://www.westchestergov.com/wcarchives and other finding aids that makes us the envy of many larger institutions."