Really Now. I speaking for the African American like myself that didn't know that Counties held record concerning Slavery. Leaving things as they are is best. Leave it up to each State to post there on records to Archives. As I said before this could cause more problems than it's worth. Sandy > -----Original Message----- > From: David W. Morgan [mailto:dmorgan@efn.org] > Sent: Saturday, March 06, 1999 3:30 PM > To: ALGEN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [ARCHIVES-L] Re: archives dividing of projects > > > On Sat, 6 Mar 1999 cityslic@ix.netcom.com wrote: > > > It's no one's fault.. but it's really frustrating when people don't > > understand the structure of the Archives. I guess it's my fault for not > > making it obvious. I've tried to send people to the Archives guidelines > > and to navigate the ftp directory to become familiar with the structure. > > > > If they understood the structure, which all the fm's do, there would be > > less confusion and misunderstanding. It took us almost a year to get > > most of the sc's to recognize the Archives and put a link to it. We've > > never insisted that there be a link to them. > > > > The Archives were not developed as a temporary, "pretty" website. We > > didn't even plan to have html's at all, but have only an ftp directory. > > The directory structure would be easy to navigate, with a visitor > > clicking on the state of choice, then county, then type of record they > > wanted to search. > > > > The search engine would cover all the directories, and help a researcher > > identify where an ancestor lived at any time, or at least if there was a > > record for them. For instance: You know your ancestor died in xxxx > > County, but have no idea where they were born, married, or any other > > place they lived. Enter their name in the search engine and receive > > several "hits." Voila!!! There's a marriage record in another state! or > > Voila!! they bought or sold some land in another state! > > > > Ok.. we have this structure.. and we know how to use it.. and it's > > helping researchers. The year 2020 comes along, and Bill Gates' son > > invents a computer chip that's inserted in a human brain. No html's.. > > hypertext has gone the way of the Y2K bug or sometime after. But... > > ASCII text.... well... that's the basis of all computer technology. > > xxoxxoooxxooxxooxxooo Aha! The Archives files are in ASCII text, and > > every state has the same directory structure. Simple thing to sliiiddde > > the whole kit and kaboodle into any new technology. > > > > Please note that the above was written by a totally non-techie person > > (me). But.. it's logical and I understand it. > > > > Linda (who is still on vacation) > > > > > > dmorgan@efn.org /David W. Morgan/Honolulu Hawaii > Archives Manager --- New Mexico NMGenWeb Project > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nm/nmfiles.htm > http://www.rootsweb.com/~okbeckha/coordinate.html >