Among the controversial parts of the current Pandemic Stimulus Bill before Congress is the provision of billions of $$$$ for libraries, archives, and museums. The minority party maintains that this is “pork” and not due to or connected to the Pandemic.
Could I present a different point of view:
And, some simple arguments for monetary aid to these institutions—a combination of public and private institutions which I consider essential to the American economy and to American life.
I am a professional genealogist of considerable skill, experience, and reputation. I make my personal living, own a genealogy research and publication business–and support a genealogy research library in Tremonton, Utah. I have had over 600 research clients and some 400 consultation clients who chose to do their own research under my guidance. So the discussion is very personal for me.
This has been “the year without genealogy” because the libraries, archives, and museums on which my livelihood is based have been closed to public use. Their fund-raising activities—meetings, conferences, weddings and other family gatherings, public events for which they charge; use fees required for admission, photocopies and negatives, genealogy and historical research; sales of books and other consumer items—all cancelled along with public access due to the Pandemic. Donations are decreased and in many cases stopped completely, due to the financial difficulties we have all experienced.
The lights have to be paid for and the minimal salaries for staff members responsible for the security of the buildings and precious materials they safe-guard have to be covered, don’t you think? And what of the grounds—water and care to keep them alive and thriving? What about the parking facilities, the garbage pick-up and disposal? All of the many elements in safe-guarding their books, collections, paintings, artifacts, which they have acquired over the years? Mambership fees alone do not cover all these expenses—whether they are open or closed.
Given the volatile state of the economy in 2020/21—Remember how we thought economic recovery would surely take hold by now? My clients have said, “I just can’t spend my money on ancestors. They will have to wait.” Actually, they can’t wait. Actually, ancestors provide the most stable anchor for family members, children, and grandchildren in times of chaos, like now. Children who can associate with family and who know their ancestors are less likely to do drugs, drop away from Zoom school, cheat on exams, experiment with sex, or get arrested as juveniles. That is a momentous promise—and true.
And because my research earnings also support the Genealogy Library Center, Inc. and at this time alone, pay its expenses—I don’t want that significant research preservation facility to suffer during these volatile times. I have a vested reason to be interested in stimulus funds. My genealogy business has been around since 1962—first in Woods Cross, Utah, then Salt Lake City, then Tremonton, Utah. Other genealogy research firms and professional genealogists have come and gone. I am still here. In business. In 2021.
I know how much excitement new ancestors can bring to people—Remember, in my opinion, genealogy is a necessity! Think what a totally awesome conversation-starter for family and friends—what you know about newly-identified and proven ancestors—their lives, their origins, their out-of-the-ordinary exploits. Much more valuable and electrifying than repeating the “doom and gloom” of the “long, dark, winter.”
Genealogy facts are not all on the Internet! I am one of the Utah genealogists who still perform field research for clients. In libraries, archives, and museums where the records have not been microfilmed nor digitized—among collections amassed by previous genealogists on the same families. I did a survey in 1980 and discovered that almost 75% of all the families I was then tracing for my clients, had already been researched one or more times. It is a costly business to re-do what someone else has already done correctly!
Most of this research came to a screeching halt in early March—Libraries, archives, and museums closed down to “stop the spread” of Covid-19. And the majority of them are still closed. My genealogy resources in Utah were squeezed to those in my own Library Center. So I have used the internet, sources available online, and books that I could purchase from small presses or through Amazon.
The mainstay of genealogy in the United States, the Family History Library operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remains closed. And much of the digitized content of their online databases is also closed for use—the Library tried to get permission from the libraries and archives that owned the originals—without success. So “the year without genealogy” continues.
When the final version of the Pandemic Stimulus bill before Congress clears, I hope it has the provision for libraries, archives, and museums! The smaller facilities, including local public libraries (and maybe even my own non-profit Library Center) cannot make it without help. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle. http://arleneeakle.com
PS The vaccine is in my arm, is it in yours?