Hi everyone,

I was a subscriber to this list a while ago when I was a graduate student taking records management courses. I regularly read the posts of this listserv online, but now that my current position has brought me back into the wonderful world of records management I am resubscribing. Plus I have a question!

Currently I am working with the Vermont Judiciary on managing its older records and developing a records management program. The judicial records are state records and the Court Administrator's Office is the legal custodian. However, until recently, the State has not been very involved in the management of records in its 62 courts. The lack of a records management program at any level (state or local) has a caused a myraid of problems that I will not even attempt to describe, although I am sure everyone can imagine that state of chaos that surrounds these records.

Most courthouses, staff, and supplies, with the exception of the clerks and judges, are funded entirely by the counties rather than the State. Thus there is much confusion among court clerks and judges, some of whom exercise extreme control over their records (denying access, taking it upon themselves to reorganize or purge records, giving records to outside parties, etc.). The division between state and local control
is very strong in Vermont, which historically and politically makes the issue with Vermont court records to be very challenging.

In some courts, judges have gone through older case files and removed currency. It is not uncommon, at least in our case files, to find currency. In some cases the currency was part of an exhibit (especially in counterfeit cases). In others
it appears that the court fee was accidently kept in the file or that a payment, received by the judge for the plaintiff, was never collected. For the most part it is not clear why currency is in the file. The currency, however, is mostly from
the 19th century and may be valuable.

This leads to my question: one judge has pulled currency from cases files and wants to offer the currency to local historical societies. While I can confidently say that instances where currency served as an exhibit must remain with the case file and that the case file, in its entirely, is a state record, I am not sure what to say in this situation. The currency has intrinsic value, was part of a state case file, and is essentially state "property."

Unfortunately, the Vermont Court Administrator's Office has yet to designate any of its records as archival (something the State Archives and Court Administrator's Office is working to change). Therefore the State Archives has no legal authority
over any court records. Otherwise the Archives' accession and appraisal policies could be used. In this case, I need to develop a policy for the Courts in regards to currency in their case files (or anything else they may have taken upon themselves to remove).

I am interested in learning what others do if they find currency in their records, and what policies they may have in place for handling such discoveries.

Thanks!

Tanya Marshall

Tanya L. Marshall, MLS
Archivist/Coordinator
Vermont Judicial Records Program
Vermont State Archives
26 Terrace, Redstone Building
Montpelier, VT 05609-1101
(tel.) 802-828-2397
(fax) 802-828-1135
(e-mail) [log in to unmask]




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