YORK, Pa. — Three hundred years of history is on the move this week.
On Wednesday, dozens of people began tagging, wrapping, and packing priceless archives to be moved out of the York History Center’s old museum along East Market Street. It's the last part of a moving plan that has been in the works for around a decade.
“Everything has been meticulously planned and mapped, so that what goes down here on a certain spot we know exactly where it’s going," said Dan Fink, vice president of public relations at the York History Center. "We take the work that’s required to care for them very seriously.”
Over the next week, workers will slowly be moving thousands of documents to the York History Center’s new location along North Pershing Street. The new location will have new climate control features in the archive room to allow for the continued preservation of the museum’s oldest documents.
Some of the oldest items date as far back as the 1700s.
“These are all priceless and irreplaceable," said Fink. “It’s family histories, it's photos of old buildings, it’s maps, it’s architectural drawings, and it’s rare books.”
“I tell [the contractors] to act like it belongs to their grandmother and to treat it that way," said Dick Michaelian, the owner of Relocation Consulting & Management, Inc.
Michaelian is overseeing the move into the new museum. He said it’s an all-hands-on-deck effort by contractors and museum workers to protect York’s archives during the move.
“It’s not like moving a house," said Michaelian. "Everything has to be handled with extra care, and these folks are great custodians of the county.”
The archives will be on display for residents to explore their own stories.
“The documents we have in our archives really do tell the story of York County.”
The new York History Center will be open to the public on August 2nd.