Welcome back to our occasional series “Off the Record,” a curated collection of articles we found interesting on a broad range of topics, some which are directly related to records management and others which might share common themes.

No, we didn’t write these articles—hence the name of this series, “Off the Record”— but, fortunately, we didn’t need to in order to share the knowledge with our subscribers.

As Easter approaches, we wanted to highlight the accidental Easter egg experience of finding rare files in unexpected places and how the findings enriched people’s lives.

A Burst Water Pipe Uncovered a Treasure Trove of Colorado’s Blind History
– The Denver Post

As folks who deal with records, we have all likely found documents in odd places. Maybe you were spring cleaning, conducting an inventory, or moving to a new office, when suddenly you found a box of records that looked older than the building you are in. This article highlights how sometimes even during a disaster, you can find a ray of sunshine. While recovering from a burst water pipe at the National Federation of the Blind in Littleton, Colorado, employees found historical documents in the form of meeting minutes. They provided a rich history of the visually impaired living in Colorado between the early 1900s and the 1960s. Volunteers spent hours drying, transcribing, and scanning these records to protect the information. Be sure to have an Information Disaster Plan that addresses how you would take care of historical records in the event they are damaged. Also be aware that Information Disaster Plans cannot account for documents that you don’t know exist! So try to find historical gaps in your entity, and keep an eye out for them. You may just find them in the most unlikely of places and circumstances!

– Sebastian Loza

York County History Uncovered After Discovery in Courthouse Basement
– News Center Maine

Before a records inventory, every box is a mystery. It could be financial records, old shoelaces, or priceless artifacts. In York County, Maine, Linda Hutchins-Corliss hit the jackpot. During a routine cleaning endeavor, she discovered hundreds of 18th and 19th century records in boxes labeled, “never throw out.” Hutchins-Corliss and her team knew it was time to call in an expert, so they worked with archivist Paige Lilly to handle and identify the fragile documents. Since the discovery in 2022, Lilly has continued to sift through the records, even turning up a land purchase made by the father of the well-known Sam Houston. So, the next time inventory has got you feeling burned out, remember: you never know what you might find.

-Ella Castro