The Delaware Public Archives is celebrating its 110th anniversary.
Gov. Jack Markell and other state officials helped mark the milestone today Wednesday at the State Archives building in Dover where a new exhibit chronicling the Archives’ history was unveiled.
The Delaware Public Archives is among the oldest continually operating state archives in the country and is older than the National Archives.
Gov. Markell says having a repository of state historical records that dates to the 17th century offers a window into the past that allows us to learn and grow.
“It’s sort of all do, right? We live our lives and we think about what we learned from our experiences," said Markell. If they’re good experiences, we say to ourselves ‘What can we do so we can have more of those good experiences in the future?’ If they’re bad experiences, we say to ourselves ‘What can we do so we don’t have to have those experiences?’”
The Delaware Public Archives was established as the Division of Public Records in 1905. It is now home to a over 11 million items, including documents, maps and books, as well as audio and video recordings and over 800,000 historical pictures.
“We have these materials that are available for access, that are available for use, that are available for you to do your research on," said State Archivist Stephen Marz. "And I will say that not only they are available to you, they’re also going to be available to your children and they’re also going to be available to your children’s children.”
The celebration of the Delaware Public Archives' 110th anniversary is being held as part of October's American Archives Month and to the mark the occasion Wednesday, the Archives publicly displayed all four of Delaware's Charter documents, a rare opportunity to see those documents in person.
