This is an idea that some of you in DeKalb County might want to persue. This is a forwarded message that appeared on the Randolph -Clay site with Kim's permission I contacted Mr. Tom Turley at the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History regarding the loose records microfilming project for Alabama counties. The archives will be supplying boxes and file folders to the county (as long as their resources permit) and the Genealogical Society of Utah will underwrite the costs of filming. The archives will also supply a free copy of the microfilm to each county that participates. Labor for the project will be provided by unpaid volunteers in the counties. I indicated 6 counties in which I was specifically interested. Three of them were Randolph, Clay, and Talladega. Unfortunately Clay, Randolph, and Talladega counties have not yet indicated an interest in participating in the project. The probate officials in each county have to request to participate in this project. It appears from the list I received of participating counties that many of the historical societies are then coordinating the volunteer workers to assemble and index the records. Now that we know more about the Archives project, it might be a good idea to offer assistance to these counties if they would participate. Should they decide to participate in the microfilming effort, the probate officials would need to contact Mr. Tom Turley, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History, Government Records Division, 624 Washington Avenue, P.O. Box 300100, Montgomery, AL 36130-0100; phone: (334) 242-4452, ext. 234, or e-mail at this address: tturley@archives.state.al.us. I do not have names of the officials for these 3 counties, but I looked up addresses in my HandyBook for Genealogists. Others on the list may have names and more current addresses. Here is what I found: Clay County, Alabama Probate Judge Clay County Courthouse Ashland, AL 36251 Randolph Co. AL Probate Judge P.O. Box 328 Wedowee, AL 36278-0328 Talladega Co. AL Probate Judge P.O. Box 755 Talladega, AL 35160-0755 Just in case you need it, the address for the Clay Co. AL Historical Society is P.O. Box 997, Ashland, AL 36251. Membership dues are $15. Please be courteous in any correspondence, offer your time and assistance, monetary contributions, or whatever rather than critical commentary. Also, give the officials the benefit of the doubt as they may not even be aware of this new archives project. I will include a list of the participating counties. I do have the names and addresses of the contact people for each if you need it. Please e-mail me privately for that info as it is too long to type all of it here. COUNTIES PARTICIPATING AS OF 3/31/99 IN THE ARCHIVES / GOVT. RECORDS MICROFILMING PROJECT IN ALABAMA COUNTIES: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers,Choctaw, Clarke, Colbert, Coosa, Cullman, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marengo, Marshall, Mobile, Montgomery, Morgan, Pickens, Pike, St. Clair,Shelby, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston Kim Austin