State archivist seeks new digs for Vermont's historical documents
Toolbox
By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 12, 2008
MONTPELIER — State Archivist Gregory Stanford stores 230 years of Vermont history in a 19th century Montpelier basement.
From the Vermont Constitution, penned on vellum in 1777, to the gubernatorial papers of Howard Dean, the cumulative volume of these historical documents is ill-accommodated by the 1,500-cubic-foot vault in the basement of the Redstone Building, also home to the offices of the Secretary of State.
"What we have is inadequate, in terms of both size and the fact that it's in a basement area that is subject to leaking water from spring runoff or heavy snowmelt," Sanford said Wednesday.
Lawmakers have since 1985 been discussing the prospects of constructing an archival vault more befitting its valued contents. On Wednesday, during a joint meeting between the House and Senate Institutions committees, Sanford lobbied yet again for new digs.
But the cost of the relocation — some $7 million to $15 million, depending on which proposal lawmakers opt for — is again slowing attempts to rebuild the archives.
"In general terms, I think the cost exceeded everyone's expectations," Gerry Myers, commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services, told lawmakers Wednesday.
Myers offered legislators a number of proposals at sites both inside and outside Montpelier. The most expensive option, at $15 million, would relocate the State Library to the Berlin Regional Library and retrofit its current home in the Pavilion Building for a 19,000 cubic-foot vault for the archives.
Another option, Myers said, was constructing a $13 million facility adjacent to the Montpelier Park & Ride on Dog River Road near the Interstate 89 on-ramp. Other proposals include building a new vault adjacent to the Redstone Building ($10.5 million), or housing the archives in the records center in Middlesex ($7 million).
Sanford and Deputy Secretary of State William Dalton said they prefer a spot in Montpelier, with about 25,000 cubic feet of vault and 8,000 square feet of office and research space, but that getting the go-ahead for a new archival facility before the end of the 2008 session is their primary concern.
"We very appropriately have studied this for a fair amount of time now … Hopefully we can make some very concrete decisions and move forward," Dalton said. "Unfortunately this is a very expensive project no matter where it's done."
Montpelier Mayor Mary Hooper, invited to speak to the committees, told lawmakers she opposes any development near the Montpelier Park & Ride. Calling the area a scenic "gateway" to the city, she said she fears both aesthetic and traffic impacts that would accompany any new construction there.
Some lawmakers, including Phil Scott, a Washington County Republican who chairs the Senate Institutions Committee, favor vacating the Redstone Building altogether and selling the property, last appraised at about $900,000. Myers said plans are afoot to relocate the offices of the Secretary of State to the fifth floor of 133 State St. where the Tax Department is currently housed.
Sanford and Dalton say the new archives, regardless of what physical location they occupy, should be in Montpelier for both symbolic and practical reasons.
"I believe that my customer base tends to be people doing business with state government or in state government themselves…" Sanford said in an interview before the afternoon committee meeting. "We want to be close to that customer base. It's a good business decision."
Vermont's 1,500 cubic foot vault is far and away the smallest in the nation. North Dakota, previously second-lowest in archive vault capacity with 15,000 feet, recently expanded to 35,000 cubic feet.
"I think it's really time to stop studying and let's come up with an appropriate solution and act," Sanford said. "I'm willing to consider most proposals that are coming."
Myers will return to the committees soon with revised proposals.
Scott said he's optimistic the committees will close a deal before session's end.
"It was really eye-opening to go into that facility and see where we store our most treasured documents," Scott said of a tour of the archives his committee took last year. "I think it's probable we'll come up with a solution before the end of the session."
42