Ex-official honored for preserving local history
Former prothonotary also credited with modernizing office
The Berks County prothonotary’s office was behind the times when Marianne Sutton was first elected in 1993.
Everything was done on paper. Everything was done by hand. There wasn’t a computer anywhere to be found.
“The office had been operating the exact same way for decades,” she said. “We were in the dark ages.”
Sutton explained that as the official recorder for civil matters in the county, she was astonished to find the office was so disorganized. There were books dating back to before the country was founded stacked in storage rooms, there was a drawer where cash and checks from customers would pile up and there was a box containing a new printer collecting dust in a corner.
“We were in the recordkeeping business, but you couldn’t find the records,” she said. “That was unacceptable.”
So Sutton set to work. During the next two decades, she opened a public archival research room and pushed to overhaul court-system technology.
She implemented a computerized docketing system in 1998, began a shift to an electronic storage system in 2002 and launched an electronic filing system for civil cases in 2016.
The goal, Sutton said, was to prepare the office for a future with paperless courts.
And after having accomplished all the steps to make that goal a reality, she decided it was time to let someone new guide the office through the next chapter.
Chief Deputy Prothonotary Jonathan Del Collo became interim prothonotary when Sutton retired in 2016. He served the remainder of Sutton’s term, then was elected by the voters to lead the office.
On Monday, Del Collo honored his predecessor’s legacy.
During a small ceremony that included county officials and members of his office, he surprised Sutton by unveiling a plaque paying tribute to her work to establish the Prothonotary
Office Archive Center.
The plague, along with a picture of Sutton, will now hang inside the center for all those who enter to read.
The plaque explains how Sutton worked with her team and a dedicated group of volunteers to retrieve and catalog historic civil and immigration records that had been long forgotten and left to decay in the county agricultural center and courthouse basement.
“We have researchers who visit the archive center on a regular basis who are grateful that these records still exist,” he told a crowd of about 35 people gathered inside the center. “And, the reality is, they would not be here without the vision and leadership of Marianne.”
Sutton said she was touched by the gesture.
“All I ever wanted to do was serve Berks County,” she said. “I love this county, and I wanted to help preserve its history for generations to come.”