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 \u201cpork\u201d and not due to or connected to the Pandemic.<\/p>\n
Could I present a different point of view:<\/strong><\/p>\n And, some simple arguments for monetary aid to these institutions\u2014a combination of public and private institutions which I consider essential<\/strong> to the American economy and to American life.<\/p>\n 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 <\/em><\/strong>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.<\/p>\n This has been \u201cthe year without genealogy\u201d because the libraries, archives, and museums on which my livelihood is based have been closed to public use. Their fund-raising activities\u2014meetings, 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\u2014all 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t you think? And what of the grounds\u2014water 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\u2014whether they are open or closed.<\/p>\n Given the volatile state of the economy in 2020\/21\u2014Remember how we thought economic recovery would surely take hold by now? My clients have said, \u201cI just can\u2019t spend my money on ancestors. They will have to wait.\u201d Actually, they can\u2019t wait. Actually, ancestors provide the most stable anchor for family members, children, and grandchildren in times of chaos, like now.\u00a0 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\u2014and true.<\/p>\n And because my research earnings also support the Genealogy Library Center, Inc.<\/strong> and at this time alone, pay its expenses\u2014I don\u2019t 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\u2014first 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.<\/p>\n I know how much excitement new ancestors can bring to people\u2014Remember, in my opinion, genealogy is a necessity!<\/strong> Think what a totally awesome conversation-starter for family and friends\u2014what you know about newly-identified and proven ancestors\u2014their lives, their origins, their out-of-the-ordinary exploits. Much more valuable and electrifying than repeating the \u201cdoom and gloom\u201d of the \u201clong, dark, winter.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2014among collections\u00a0 amassed by previous genealogists on the same families<\/strong>. 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!<\/p>\n Most of this research came to a screeching halt in early March\u2014Libraries, archives, and museums closed down to \u201cstop the spread\u201d 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.<\/p>\n The mainstay of genealogy in the United States, the Family History Library<\/em><\/strong> 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\u2014the Library tried to get permission from the libraries and archives that owned the originals\u2014without success. So \u201cthe year without genealogy\u201d continues.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 http:\/\/arleneeakle.com<\/a><\/p>\n PS The vaccine is in my arm, is it in yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 \u201cpork\u201d and not due to or connected to the … Continue reading