>I am an old hand at genealogy starting in the late '60s, back when it >was pencil and paper, or occasionally, typewriter. There were "name >collectors", but most of us worked hard doing research in original >records, after we had done the literary survey, so we didn't reinvewnt >the wheel. I started about the same time but could only get so far with what was available then. I am very glad now that I did start then - while certain elderly relatives who remembered our family background were still alive. At that stage I couldn't do much with some of the information. I live in New Zealand and my family originated in Scotland. In the mid 1800's they seem to have dispersed all over the world. Items such as "she married a Littlejohn and went to America" seemd far too vague to track down. How to search original records when the whole of the US is the target? So I am very glad now that the 1880 census is available on CD, and someone was able to find this family for me. Much other information has become available to me either on the internet or on microfilm. I'd love to travel to Scotland, the US, Australia and all the other places where our family history can be found but it isn't possible just now. Also, I believe that if you go to Scotland to look at, say, Old Parish Records, what you get to look at there is the same microfilm that you can order at the LDS Family History Centre anywhere else in the world. I'm currently waiting to see the microfilm of wills of some of my ancestors from the 1600's. I do believe in original source records where I can get them. One day I will go to Scotland and see the farm my greatgreatgrandfather was born in, and find the plaque that indicates the spot where my greatgrandfather's bakery burnt down. And I will get to look at the archives of the Stirling Incorporation of Bakers that aren't available on the net yet (although the list of archives that shows they exist, *is* on the net). In the meantime I will use the internet, the library, the help of volunteers and of paid researchers, and any other help I can get to find out what I can. (And those people who think they can download it all instantly will get so far and no further) Catherine Fitchett Christchurch, New Zealand cfitchett@netaccess.co.nz