Don asked: >What are the Draper Manuscripts? < Hi All: I don't have the dates but somewhere in the late 1700s or early 1800s a man named Draper decided that a lot of history was being lost as the Rev. War veterans were dying. So, he took it upon himself to travel around and interview the older citizens about their Rev. War experiences. He interviewed former military men and also their families. Unfortunately, as of about five years ago very few of the handwritten papers had been indexed. The papers are divided into sections - I am unfamiliar with the divisions. The Draper interviews that I have run across are very interesting and give quite a taste of what life was life during the Rev. War. I once ran across a Draper interview of a Mrs. Hinds but she was actually interviewed about her first husband's war effort and her life during the Rev. War. She had married a Hinds after the war so she had nothing to say about who he was. Does anyone know if they have been indexed or are being indexed? Regards Nan 71532.734@compuserve.com

The Draper manuscripts are aavailable as reels of microfilm and there are close to 500 of them. There are books indexing various parts of of the manuscripts in some fashion. Getting into this material is a time intensive matter. Bill LaBach.