SALISBURY — A $25,000 grant from the Miriam and Robert Hayes Charitable Trust was accepted Monday night by the Rowan County Board of Commissioners that will give a technological boost to the efforts to digitize the back files at the Salisbury Post.

The Salisbury Post Morgue Preservation Project is looking to take all of the printed archival material housed by the Post and convert it into a digital format available to the public. Newspaper archives are colloquially called morgues in the business.

The Post and the county struck up a records loan agreement earlier this year to give the Rowan Public Library access to the entirety of the morgue, back to the early 20th century, and convert it into a digital resource that will then be available to the public through the Edith M. Clark History Room.

The grant accepted Monday will allow for the purchase of a scanner, which will help streamline the process at least somewhat.

Files at the Post are organized based on names of people, businesses, other organizations and significant historical events like wars, and the files are often used by newsroom staff in researching the history of towns, issues and historic events, among other things. At times, the public has been granted access, but having the records available in the library will make them much more accessible. The transfer is time consuming, but it is hoped a scanner will help alleviate some of the time intensity.