Comments on: Rescued from the Trash Barrell: Genealogical Collections Soon Available http://www.arleneeakle.com/wordpress/2006/09/18/rescued-from-the-trash-barrell-genealogical-collections-soon-available/ Genealogy, tracing ancestors, writing family history, multiple streams of genealogy evidence Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:06:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: arlene http://www.arleneeakle.com/wordpress/2006/09/18/rescued-from-the-trash-barrell-genealogical-collections-soon-available/comment-page-1/#comment-26 arlene Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:39:23 +0000 http://www.arleneeakle.com/wordpress/2006/09/18/rescued-from-the-trash-barrell-genealogical-collections-soon-available/#comment-26 The decision to discard the secondary material needs re-examining. The value of the materials is that usually they apply to the ancestors in question. The researcher has already made the choice. For someone else seeking data on the same ancestors, the work is done. The next researcher can study the pages to determine if they fit without first having to retrieve them. I am working with a collection now where correspondence has been culled. The researcher made a list of the letters discarded, with dates, and names of writers, names of addressees, but not the subject of the letter nor the results. I would rather have the letters to study. Research takes a great deal of time, and considerable money. With the letters and all of the data collected, you and I can quickly determine: 1. The extent and completeness of the searches. 2. Whether additional research is needed. Or if that correspondent may have other details worth asking about. 3. If the conclusions about the ancestor are accurate. The total number of pages is minor to the savings in time and effort to re-do the work. This is especially true if the copies were obtained in an archive or library many miles away. I recall the courthouse in Minnesota where, by law, the clerks were required to cull the probate files. They made a calendar of the papers they destroyed. Their mission was to cut the files 2/3rds, since they were running out of storage space. I read the case file of an immigrant ancestor who received a "legacy from Sweden"--that's what the calendar said. My heart sank--for the retained papers did not say who gave the legacy, nor what place in Sweden the bequest originiated! The clerk expressed dismay too. But in the process of thinning the files, they could take the time to read them. Research reports may not transcribe all of the documents or secondary source papers. They may only reference them. The reasoning of the researcher in those reports is valuable. Being able to run a check against the source is invaluable. Duplicate copies made and included in the same files can be discarded once you determine that the copy you retain has all the data. So my answer is, I prefer to get the whole collection en masse and leave the decisions about the "good stuff" to me. If you decide to part with the collection, I am interested. If you decide to keep it, you might prepare an inventory of families covered, with a good index. The index can be placed on your website with a reasonable search cost to have it checked. That way your small society, if it has the space to keep the materials safe, can receive some income to cover the costs of searching and sharing the information. Copies of Bible records or vital certificates can be made for other libraries of your choice. Many thanks for your questions. Arlene The decision to discard the secondary material needs re-examining. The value of the materials is that usually they apply to the ancestors in question. The researcher has already made the choice. For someone else seeking data on the same ancestors, the work is done. The next researcher can study the pages to determine if they fit without first having to retrieve them.

I am working with a collection now where correspondence has been culled. The researcher made a list of the letters discarded, with dates, and names of writers, names of addressees, but not the subject of the letter nor the results. I would rather have the letters to study. Research takes a great deal of time, and considerable money. With the letters and all of the data collected, you and I can quickly determine: 1. The extent and completeness of the searches. 2. Whether additional research is needed. Or if that correspondent may have other details worth asking about. 3. If the conclusions about the ancestor are accurate.

The total number of pages is minor to the savings in time and effort to re-do the work. This is especially true if the copies were obtained in an archive or library many miles away. I recall the courthouse in Minnesota where, by law, the clerks were required to cull the probate files. They made a calendar of the papers they destroyed. Their mission was to cut the files 2/3rds, since they were running out of storage space. I read the case file of an immigrant ancestor who received a “legacy from Sweden”–that’s what the calendar said. My heart sank–for the retained papers did not say who gave the legacy, nor what place in Sweden the bequest originiated! The clerk expressed dismay too. But in the process of thinning the files, they could take the time to read them.

Research reports may not transcribe all of the documents or secondary source papers. They may only reference them. The reasoning of the researcher in those reports is valuable. Being able to run a check against the source is invaluable.

Duplicate copies made and included in the same files can be discarded once you determine that the copy you retain has all the data.

So my answer is, I prefer to get the whole collection en masse and leave the decisions about the “good stuff” to me. If you decide to part with the collection, I am interested. If you decide to keep it, you might prepare an inventory of families covered, with a good index. The index can be placed on your website with a reasonable search cost to have it checked. That way your small society, if it has the space to keep the materials safe, can receive some income to cover the costs of searching and sharing the information.

Copies of Bible records or vital certificates can be made for other libraries of your choice.

Many thanks for your questions. Arlene

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