Mercer County Clerk Announces Digitization and Preservation of Land Records

TRENTON — Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello announced that her office completed a book-scanning project that preserved and digitized over one million of Mercer County’s historic property records. These records, dating back to the County’s inception in 1838, are now available to the public online.

This will allow for business transactions to take place more efficiently, via computer, permitting more of Mercer County’s property searches to be conducted remotely. It also preserves the records of the County for future generations.

The project involved the scanning of 1,214 books in the Mercer County Clerk’s vast record collection. It includes deeds dating back to January, 1839, Mortgage Releases from the early to mid-20th century, and Chancery Notices, also known as “lis pendens,” recorded from 1932-1960, all on one platform. Once scanned, the images were uploaded onto the Mercer County Clerk’s land record management system, New Vision Systems, for online searching.

The preservation of historic records is a critical responsibility of the Mercer County Clerk’s Office. County Clerk Sollami Covello said, “This project represents my ongoing commitment to innovation and public service. As Mercer’s official property recorder, I know the importance of this project to our region’s title companies and real estate professionals. I’m especially proud it preserves valuable historic information before that information was lost due to the decay of aging books or other damage.”

The scanning project involved meticulous planning and collaboration over several years. It was also completed with the utilization of advanced technologies by vendor, County Business Systems, following a competitive contracting process wherein it was stressed that the records must be clear and legible for real estate professionals and future generations to be able to read them. Some images were enhanced to improve readability while other technologies were implemented to eliminate the “bleed-through” of words from two-sided copies.

To access the digitized records online, individuals must first register by visiting the Mercer County Clerk’s Online Public Record Search Page.

For more information regarding the services of the Mercer County Clerk’s Office, please visit the Clerk’s page here. The County Clerk’s Office and its Public Record Room is located at 209 South Broad Street, Trenton, from Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and late on Wednesdays until 6:45 p.m. (with the exception of three Wednesday evenings from July 19 through Aug. 2).