Greetings to you Sue! Incredible that you mention the Huntington Library situation. I attended the California Historical Records Statewide Planning Project meeting yesterday- Central Valley group- (I see that the meeting for your area was in Sept last year- hope you were able to attend?) I had a one-on-one with the state archivist on the subject of county records falling into the hands of private institutions and the problem this can create. Access! and a comprehensive county inventory ---- He mentioned the Huntington in particular as a real issue for the researcher- just getting in the door of this institution is a real coup. I don't know the exact qualifications, but they are strict- Ph.D. required? The statement the archivist made was "once public, always public" when referring to who really owns public records. This is something to remember, when trying to locate and research at a private institution=- We have every right to see these records- at no cost other than the cost of reproducing the material. He also used a term I had never heard of: "replevin"- I had him explain it to me- Bet you and your county counsel are familiar with that term <g>~ It is good to hear from you and your counties experience. Glad to hear that, in the very least, your county records were able to be retrieved, if only in film format-. You are right, I suspect every county has probably experienced the disappearance of their public records- That is why regular County Inventories seem so important! It seems if Inventories were conducted on a regular basis the responsibility would be placed on the counties to be accountable for the retention and access of these records. There was a bit of good news reported on Alpine County-The Alpine County inventory done in 1981 found all the records that had been inventoried by Coy in 1917! Best, Carolyn -----Original Message----- From: Sue Silver <ssilver1951@jps.net> To: Carolyn Feroben <Sweetwater@Sierratel.com>; CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com <CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, January 18, 2001 7:28 PM Subject: Re: [CAMARIPO] PUBLIC LEDGERS- State Archives > ?> junk dealer> eBay> State Archives !! >Greetings from El Dorado County > >Many of our county records are now the property of the Huntington Library >thanks to one of the old county recorders. He apparently "cleaned" house, >took the records home and they eventually got sold to Huntington. Such a >shame when public records are to remain in the public domain to have such >shenanigans going on. > >The County Judge's logbook, which was to be filed with the County Clerk >after the judge apportioned townsite lots to private owners (patents) in >platted townsites, ended up with one of our local title companies which was >selling the information to surveyors and other people. Selling our public >record information? Correct...We managed to get our county counsel to >arrange for the county to receive microfiche copies of our public >record....but not the real record itself. > >How many records may have existed and what may be missing from anyone's >county is anyone's guess. I don't believe El Dorado County is an isolated >incident. Wish we had history minded public servants in California. Maybe >we wouldn't all be struggling so hard to find what we can... > >Sue Silver >El Dorado County Pioneer Cemeteries Commission > >