Written by Victoria Vasquez | August 29, 2025

Clerk Archives Preserves Porter County History

The Clerk Archives Department, a local unit operated by the Porter County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office received a $750 micro-grant award from Centier Bank to support their archives digitization project. Last month, the Clerk Archives team sought after grant funds to help with its project initiatives. The archives department was established by Jessica A. Bailey, Clerk of the Circuit Court in 2020 to preserve the court’s historical records dating back to 1836 when Porter County was first established.

The Clerk Archives project’s main objective is to centralize the record collections that were housed off-site at various facilities between Porter and Lake counties then digitize those records for public access. One goal is to provide online record indexes of the historical records to make them available to the public for the first time on the world wide web. The record indexes will assist the archives staff in record retrieval for open public record requests made by genealogists, independent researchers, scholars, and the public. The archives staff have already processed international requests received from Sweden and Italy with more expected from their online presence.

The Centier Gives program is part of Centier Bank’s Community Relations Department. It’s leadership has helped countless nonprofits, schools, and other organizations fulfill their missions. The Clerk Archives team is proud to have joined the list of supported projects in Northwest Indiana and look forward to fostering a working relationship with Centier.

Jessica A. Bailey, Clerk of the Circuit Courts stated, “We are grateful to have a valued community partner like Centier Bank supporting our Archiving Project. Porter County has a rich and vibrant history, and digitizing court records is a vital step in preserving that legacy for future generations. With the generous support of Centier Bank, the Clerk Archives will be able to accelerate the progress of this important initiative, ensuring that our historical records are accessible, protected, and celebrated for years to come.”

The Clerk Archives department also offers volunteer and internship opportunities at their Portage Office location. Internship programs are geared for college students interested in the Indiana court system or local government. Volunteers assist with general tasks to meet project goals. For those interested in seeking community service hours, inquiries may be emailed to portercounty.clerk@portercountyin.gov or call the archives at (219) 759-8238.