Need project advice from the pros

Hi everyone!

I'm considering a project for my history class that I dreamt up last night, but I don't quite know how to make it a reality. If anyone here has any suggestions, I would certainly appreciate it.

I'm currently researching some ledgers from the Parish Prison from 1853. They are super cool, but they are falling apart. My initial idea was to import the information from the ledgers into an Open Office Spreadsheet, so the numbers could be easily accessed, and the ledgers wouldn't have to be touched by researchers, thus helping them live much longer.

While it is a good, practical idea, I don't know if a static database will produce much of a "wow factor" from my professor or my peers. Then I came up with the idea of making it searchable. For example: The researcher encounters a search type engine thing and can type in "assault" and all the people arrested for assault come up as results.

My question is this: How do I turn my database it into something user friendly that can be used like a search engine? Do I need a special program on the library's computer, or do they need to host something off of their website? Now I'm getting into a region I don't know too well.... so any and all suggestions on how to do this the easiest way, with the least amount (or none) of script writing would be awesome.

Plus I'll thank you in my presentation. I swear.