The issues of old documents are complex. One problem, of course, is limited funding. and limited staff because of limited funding. Yes, we need to encourage legislators to fund record preservation. Another solution is amateur genealogists donating time to assist in the records' offices. An advantage to such volunteer assistance (an afternoon a week, for instance) is that the staff then see us as part of the solution rather than just more people demanding service from already over-worked staff. And besides, that gets us into the offices where we can see what is happening and perhaps influence the future of our records. (I too am horrified by the thought of "giving" away the originals.) Lynne Hundley searching Buckingham Browne's descendants in Virginia. -----Original Message----- ... we all want the old records protected, but at the same time need copies. ... we researchers must immediately begin to educate our county officials to ... use some of our tax monies to correct and prevent this type of situation.