What I have seen in the past is -- when the records have been entered into a computer - it is no longer "necessary" to keep the handwritten copies and these are discarded. Some secretary or some "other" person probably took the records from the trash. Alas, this is very sad, but it happens. Just recently in Rochester, MN my husband's grandfather sold his business which was a photography studio dating back to the turn of the century. He sold everything in one package when he retired. The person buying the business couldn't make a go of it. When everything was liquidated the thousands of photographs found there way to a garage. About one year ago someone cleaning the garage found these pictures and donated them to the Olmsted County Historical Society. Imagine our surprise this summer when we went back for a visit, and while doing my genealogy search we were informed of the donation. It was amazing to see my husband's baby pictures permanently placed in safekeeping with the society. The only way to prevent this from happening is to get involved with the local historical society and watch for business (cemeteries, etc.) that have computerized their records. I recently had this happen in Wyoming. They have distroyed all paper records to the cemetery in Casper because "everything" is on computer. Were they absolutely 100% positive the records were correct, were surveys done ....No.... Many unnamed graves are lost forever. It's sad, but unfortunately true, with our new computer age. Paper copies just aren't valuable anymore, except to a genealogist. -----Original Message----- From: Andy & Pat <abcpec@erols.com> To: GenSwap-L@rootsweb.com <GenSwap-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 9:17 PM Subject: Re: Help save MN ledgers I have occassionally seen old ledges of public records for sale, and I believe that this is probably illegall. These should be legal documents of the county, not someone's pesonal propety. I wonde how they came into private possession? Patricia C.