Clayton county researchers, Please consider signing this petition that is now circulation in the genealogy community. Read below for additional information or go directly to the online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/FGS2006 Sharyl Ferrall Clayton co. IAGenWeb coordinator http://iagenweb.org/clayton >In late July, the National Archives announced they were planning to cut >back the hours of the Washington DC area facilities of the archives. This >would eliminate all evening and Saturday hours and greatly harm the >ability of the average genealogist to access the records. For full >details, see >http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2006/nr06-125.html > >While the Archivist of the United States was at the FGS conference he >reported that they had received very little feedback from the country's >genealogists asking for reconsideration. He was also presented with a >request from the chair of the FGS Records Preservation Committee to >consider some alternatives and a petition was started to allow >genealogists to express their disagreement with the changes and to endorse >alternatives that will allow the evening and Saturday hours to continue. > >You can see more details about that in Dick Eastman's weekly newsletter >at: >http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2006/09/quick_please_jo.html > >The petition can be signed at: http://www.petitiononline.com/FGS2006 > >Note that the deadline for receiving comments on the proposed changes by >the archives is September 9, so there isn't much time. And I suspect that >if they succeed in reducing the Washington hours, the regional archives >will be soon to follow.