WADESBORO- The genealogy room at the Hampton B. Allen Library in Wadesboro received new equipment in the form of a ScanPro 2200 machine and a Dell computer with a 24” adjustable monitor on Thursday, Feb. 14. This was done thanks to a grant from James R. and Bronnie Lo Braswell of the Braswell Trust.
Former Anson County Sheriff Tommy Allen applied for the grant on behalf of the Library through the Anson County Historical Society, of which he is a member.
“We’ve had an old microfiche reader machine for years,” said Kit Brewer, Branch Manager of the Library. “Tom Allen saw the need we had for a new machine and took steps to fill that need.”
With the new machine, researchers, genealogists, and historians will be able to print and scan copies of documents on microfiche film and email them directly from the machine itself or upload the information onto a flash drive. “It makes research much more thorough,” said Allen.
Record Library Genealogist Gilberte “Gibby” Bachiochi could barely contain her excitement over the new equipment. “The image quality is so much better on the ScanPro 2200 than the analog version we were using,” said Bachiochi. Bachiochi describes the genealogy room as her “nest and domain” and plans on using the ScanPro 2200 to digitize copies of the Anson Record and other newspapers.
Jeff Mace and Mike DeHaan, of Palmetto Microfilm and Imaging Systems, were on hand to hook up the ScanPro 2200 to the Dell computer and monitor as well as to provide tutorials to Brewer and Bachiochi on how to use the new equipment. Together, Mace and DeHaan have over 50 years of experience in the Microfilm industry.
The ScanPro 2200 is a valuable and welcome addition to the Hampton B. Allen Library that will enable genealogists and historians to conduct more efficient microfiche research.
