Read all about it! The day the earth died!

This article by Douglas Preston in April 8 The New Yorker, alternating between hilarity and horror, shows how a paleontologist can reconstruct, almost moment by moment, the greatest disaster in the planet's history. (I found it at the aggregator site 3 Quarks Daily.) For those of us puzzling over preserving our work, and whether to publish on paper or on line, it rather puts things in perspective.

Weekend wonderings: when counties do have money...

It's interesting to research in a county courthouse where they've had relatively good times and reliable tax revenues with which to manage their records. Money definitely improves matters, but it doesn't always lead to the best decisions. In a single office I have observed:

(1) lamination of old worn books' pages (good short-term, not always so good long-term);

(2) retyping of old, presumably worn, books (seemingly well done, but where are the originals?); and

(3) good microcopies of every page of every book for copying purposes (gold standard!).

Quite a mix. Where have you seen money especially well used (or otherwise)?



Harold Henderson, "Weekend wonderings: when counties do have money," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 3 June 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Preservation along the National Road

Belmont County, Ohio, is the first county west of Wheeling, West Virginia, smack on the major migration route known in different time periods as the National Road, US 40, and Interstate 70, which by my somewhat arbitrary definition would make it a gateway to the Midwest. 24-7 Family History points us to an editorial in The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register with some good news:

During a recent meeting of the Cumberland Trail Genealogy Society, plans to construct a building to house the [county] records were discussed. County Commission President Gordie Longshaw noted that locations in Barnesville and Morristown are being investigated as possible sites for the building. Funds are available for construction, it was noted.

Commissioner Charles Probst added that commissioners hope to employ a full-time librarian to oversee the records repository. There also has been discussion of finding ways to organize the old records, making it easier for researchers to use them.

Judging from their website, CTGS is pulling its weight too.