MARROW, West Virginia — The Ash County clerk has closed the public reading room in the courthouse annex through October 9 while employees inventory a card catalog that has begun containing entries for people using the room. Deed copies, meeting minutes and historical tax books remain available by appointment at the main courthouse, though same-day requests may take longer.
The annex holds older county records that were moved out of the courthouse during a 1986 renovation. Its oak catalog has 48 narrow drawers organized by subjects, surnames and place names. Staff still use the cards because several collections have not been entered into the county's digital index, clerk Ruth Calder said.
The first unusual entry was found September 24 by Lorraine Beck, who was looking for a petition concerning the former Willow Run bridge. In the drawer labeled bridges through bylaws, Beck found a yellow card headed with her full name. Beneath it, a typewritten line directed her to box 14, the same box a clerk brought to her table several minutes later.
Calder initially treated the card as a misplaced research slip. The catalog includes notes left by county historians, and Beck's family has appeared in local records for generations. The card differed from those notes because it named Beck as a patron rather than a resident and used the room's current box number, assigned after shelving was rearranged in 2018.
Three more patrons found cards bearing their names over the next week. A college student researching a mine disaster found his card under labor. An attorney requesting an easement book found hers under roads. A genealogist found a card that listed no collection and instructed staff to provide a pencil, which she had forgotten to bring. None of the patrons had visited the annex before, Calder said.
Employees began checking each drawer at opening and closing. They recorded no new card Tuesday, when the room was empty. Two appeared Wednesday while four patrons worked at separate tables. A camera covers the annex entrance but not the catalog, and the footage shows no one entering besides the patrons and two employees during that period.
The cards are the same weight and faded yellow as stock the county bought in 1961. Their type matches an Underwood machine stored in the basement, including a raised lowercase e and a chipped capital R. Calder said the typewriter has had no ribbon since it was included in a surplus inventory in 1998. It was still wrapped in brown paper when employees examined it Thursday.
County administrator Malcolm Rees authorized the temporary closure after a patron card directed staff to a sealed bundle of drainage-board minutes that was not listed in the room inventory. The bundle contained ordinary minutes from 1954 through 1957 and showed no evidence of recent handling. Rees said the closure is meant to establish custody of the files, not to determine how the cards were made.
Researchers with appointments will be asked to identify a subject in advance, and staff will retrieve one box at a time. The change has delayed two title searches and a family-history project. The county will waive copy fees for requests that were scheduled before the closure and will publish a revised finding aid after the inventory.
Calder and deputy clerk Mason Dorr removed 18 patron cards from the catalog Thursday and placed them in separate sleeves. Some names belong to recent visitors; others do not appear in the sign-in book. One is headed only 'closing inventory' and lists Friday's date. Calder said no county employee typed it, and no collection in the annex carries that title.
After this report's records request was completed, Dorr opened the drawer marked newspapers to return a subject card. A new yellow card was resting in front. It read 'Vale, June' and gave the requested item as 'report submitted; copy retained.' I had asked to see only the catalog purchase ledger. Calder placed the card in a nineteenth sleeve and amended the closure inventory before locking the room.