Gaila, Thanks for the great suggestion! Not only will they make a digital copy, they will be able to make those copies a whole lot easier & quicker. By the time a researcher: 1. Pulls the record book from the shelf. 2. Sets the various buttons on the copier to accomodate the large pages. 3. Positions the book. 4. Makes the photocopy. 5. Carefully removes the book. 6. Returns the record book to the shelf. It could take 10 or 15 minutes per page. I personally have not tried using a digital camera yet, but am very interested in the prospect of doing so. If any of you on this Houston-L list have already experimented with making digital images of record books at court houses, please let us all know about it. Take care! William A. Mills [email protected] =============>>> On Sun, 30 Apr 2000 16:50:50 +1000 "Gaila & Jim Merrington" <[email protected]> writes: Hello One answer might be to use a digital camera. I think if people have access to digital cameras - even borrowing one when they go to the Courthouses, etc there would be much less damage done to the books. The photo copying machines are so small in the courthouses and the books so large, it took a great deal of effort to keep the books intact. Often Sandra and I would both hold a book, so not to stress the spine. The records are so exciting to look at and see handwriting in the original form. I would hope everyone would be very careful, but next time I do this I am going to borrow or rent a digital camera so that there will be less damage to the books and I can get more information. snip Gaila ----- Original Message ----- From: "William A. Mills" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 27 April 2000 3:18 PM Subject: [GAHOUSTO] Record book damage at Houston County courthouse. Houston County Researchers: I spent most of the day at the Houston County courthouse. Upon reviewing several of the record books in the Probate Court, I noticed that the one that I have been abstracting for the past few weeks, now has the cover and spine torn from it. Also, Marriage Book "B" was laying on the counter with the majority of the pages torn loose from the spine. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.