It looks to me that they might want to force genealogy to function as a "business" so that these studies can be handled by professional genealogists only. And in a way, I am not surprised, because a lot of "messy records" have been entered in the LDS files; I found some of my own family converging with another. We compared sources, analyzed and corrected this. Some people are more accurate than others, and the key factor here is, that the archives are responsible that only documented records are added. In the past, you had to make your data input at the Family Research Center while a representative was sitting next to you to verify each individual input. Now you can do it at home on a disc, and either send it to the LDS or submit it via the Family Research Center and as long as it has a Registration number from a church or office, it is accepted. Some entries are accepted without source numbers- even - when they calculate the last documented person's parents, for instance. Therefore, with the computer age and submission of information "canned on a disc," anyone can "compose" to their heart's content or to their logic --- but this is NEITHER LEGAL NOR IS THIS the purpose of Genealogy. It is for this pupose we are coming here together to help one another to find the location where these legal records are stored and how to get at them. Never forget that finding a record is a legal procedure, and don't take this lightly! What you enter has to be proven by a source document! PERIOD! If you don't have it, don't do it! I can only guess that a lot of professional Genealogist using the LDS and other archives have suddenly found a lot of unreliable records and are horrified what the computer age has done to it..... and they see no other way but putting a stop to its access. Of course this, in turn, hurts our own searches. But the fact is this: our own sloppiness will close access and if it comes to that, we have only to blame ourselves for it. To become a professional genealogist is a study in itself, and our self-made studies can lead easily into the wrong direction. The supporting genealogical computer programs available on the market tend to make us feel like "I can do this"....but there are still areas where a consultation is of prime importance. It is different if you do genealogy just for your own family and publish on a closed website. but I feel that even there it should carry a stipulation that the user does so "at his own risk," with a notation as to "not all records are verified." NEVER EVER send genealogy information to the archives that is not supported by a legal source. In my own case, I do not have every single ancestor "documented" and, therefore, I have not yet made data-input to any archives, LDS included. However, in sharing information on the internet and by Email, I can see that others have taken some of the information I have exchanged with them, entered them on their charts "as is" (while I was still waiting for verification) and just forwarded the "unfinished" information into the archives without any "proof." This is certainly VERY BAD because archival information should hold up to legal records. Be careful and accurate with your research, write down the sources of your information, especially if it is from a church register, a Social Security List, Shipslist or Ellis Island Entry - YOU HAVE GOT TO GIVE YOUR RECORDS A SOURCE OR IT IS NOT VALID. Write down the date, the Volume or Tomus Number (mostly Roman numerals) and the page number (Arabic) and have it verified by a second person. With the easy access to information via your computer, Genealogy has become a "hobby" and a past time.... but NEVER EVER FORGET that - in reality - you are working with legal records! This deserves respect, accuracy and a support document is always needed for every name and date!!!! If you do not have it, do not publish it.....until you do! I think this is the only way we will be able to retain our privilege to archival records. Aida page number----- Original Message ----- From: <KarenHob@aol.com> To: <GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 12:30 PM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] (no subject) > In a message dated 11/4/2005 5:28:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, > akibb1@verizon.net writes: > This seems to me almost unworkable. > I agree with Aida. In general it is unworkable unless one of us would > write > to Sweden for records of German-bohemians who settled there. I don't > know > how one would get those records otherwise. > > That is when the research would probably hit a wall be cause the Swedish > authorities would probably have to demand that all the required > permissions be > presenjted. > > I can imagine one scenario for a family of German-Bohemian ancestry who > were > the only surviving representatives of two G-B families and who fled to > Sweden > during the war. Assume that there may have been only one son born in > the > first generation and he had only one son with a woman who was an only > daughter > of other G-B immigrants.. The woman had no living relatives when she > married > . When the two of them died their only daughter went to the US. > > The daughter's only child now wants a marriage and death record of the > grandparents and she must furnish "permission" from living relatives > (there are none > in the U.S. and if there are any in Germany they are unknown). > > What proof can Sweden possibly demand that there are no living relatives? > How can they verify whatever is presented as authentic.? > > If someone publishes an Internet website just for family members with the > password, how will Sweden know what it on it? For that matter how will > they > know what is out there at all -- are they going to have experts who surf > constantly looking for offenders who have published Swedish surnames > without the > permissions required? And then what can they do about it if the offender > is not a > Swedish citizen?? > > I suspect that the worst case scenario will be that the LDS respects the > Swedish law and will not release any Swedish records without some sort of > documentation related to necessary permission. > > They have found a way to deal with privacy laws in Eastern Europe that > impede > research and so have many of the EE archivists. Access is not denied at > SLC > as long as a researcher signs a certain "permission form". > > However the LDS will not circulate any filmed records that contain ANY > documents dated earlier than 100 years old for many EE lands. > > This affects a lot of Austrian military records among others - they can > only > be viewed in SLC. But there are provisions for SLC professionals to > look > at them for a client. Some of these pros charge a "single item fee" of > $100. > That can be cheap compared to the cost of a trip to SLC.. > > Karen > > > ==== GERMAN-BOHEMIAN Mailing List ==== > Would you like to see messages that were posted before you joined the > list? > Visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/mailinglist.html and request an > archive. >