John, You are correct about the LDS Family History Centers. I do volunteer work there once a week, and it is interesting for me. I am now working on Census Indexing, and it is very challenging. It is hard to decipher some of the early census taker's handwriting, and we can't make corrections. We can only put information down as it is on the early census records. One example is when a child was listed as a son, and then was listed Female. It takes a lot of stamina to work on the files. The Family History Center I work at is small and all our records are accessible to everyone. It is true that when microfilm is ordered there is a charge for shipping, but we can't expect that to be free. I plan on organizing all my genealogy files and will send them to the LDS Family History Center where others can find helpful information on my line. Anyone that is interested in doing Census indexing can go up to Familysearch.org, and click on indexing to do some of that volunteer work. You register, put in a password, and can begin right away on your own computer at home. Elsie White