List, Does anyone on the list know how much trouble it would be to open, establish, and maintain a cemetery preservation fund that would be funded by charitable contributions? Has anyone ever done anything like this? I have not. Would any of the folks that lived in Barbour be willing to be respsonsible for the management of the account? My thought is that I could to do primary record look-ups of at least the following materials "for free". I would, of course, also mail any records found to the person making the request. 1. AL CSA service records 2. AL CSA pension files 3. Rev War service records (local library does not have all - but a good percentage) 4. 1812 Military Land Bounty records 5. southeast US census records (almost all states, all years until 1900), many after 1900. 6. any books you find in the Huntsville, AL public library card cartalog at: http://www.hpl.lib.al.us/ 7. bunch of stuff I can't think of right now!! In return, the person making the request could make a charitable donation made out to the fund (not me!) that could be deducted from your income tax. You would get the records for a potentially reduced price, help the cemetery preservation project, and get a tax deduction. As for fees - we could haggle that out. Seems like many requests from NARA cost at least $10. However, I am no expert on NARA fees. Someone else might have a better idea of what the actual fees are. How about a fee of $5-$7, with an additional amount if the file is large (copying costs)? Initially, I would like to limit requests to just us listers, since I am not sure how much time I would have to devote. What do you think? Is this legal? Would it be a nighmare to administer? Would folks constantly get into arguments about which cemeteries needed work, and what work needed to be done? I must admit I have one I would love to see restored - Ephesus - home of several of my WESTBROOK family members. It was in very sad shape the last time I visited. I would also be willing to donate "seed money" to the project. Anyone interested in this???? Thanks, Terri