Last week the world watched as Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral burned. This week East Tennesseans are watching a fire burn the Loudon County Courthouse. The county mayor says it is a significant if not total loss.
The only thing we know for certain was rescued at this point is a flag. Efforts were underway to salvage what they could.
Fortunately many records are microfilmed by Tennessee State Library & Archives. These same records are available in Knoxville's Calvin M. McClung Collection in the East Tennessee History Center. FamilySearch offers a handful of records in comparison to the holdings of Tennessee State Library & Archives.
Many researchers know about Tennessee's county archives program. Sadly Loudon's archives is classified as partial or inactive.
I don't have a photo to share because of copyright issues. This news story offers a photo at the moment, but it may be updated as the evening progresses.
I hope early records are saved, but I'm thankful many records are preserved through microfilming and digitization.
UPDATE: The local news reports many historic documents were recently removed because a "historic preservation society" was being established. I wonder if that means a county archives. Hopefully we'll learn more soon.
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