Mildred Mallek wrote: > > To John Stoddard: > > Well, beggin' yore pardon, but when you said that the genealogical section > of the > Wheaton library is quite good, especially for DuPage County, my sensitive > sensibilities were struck! Do you realize that DuPage County has a million > people > in it? That it is one of the richest counties in the U.S.? Well, now, they > had better > have some good resources, is all I can say. I wish money and resources always translated into an interest in good research libraries, especially in historical and genealogical material. I live in a suburb of Atlanta that was the fastest growing county in the US for several years in the 1980s and is still a popular "bedroom" community of Atlanta. We have nice new libraries all over the county and they are wonderful if you just want to check out the latest novel. Unfortunately, they have virtually nothing on local history or genealogy. The historical society does, but they like to hoard and not share, and they're open very few hours a week. Ask our local librarians to get a book on an interlibrary loan and see how fast their eyes glaze over. They hate to do that kind of stuff! I am involved in research in a small East Tennessee town, Jonesborough, which happens to be the oldest town in TN. They have capitalized on that history and attract a lot of tourists. The national Story Tellers Society has its headquarters there and owns half the town now. Most of the old homes are B&Bs. All that money coming in from outside the town, but they care nothing about preserving or expanding their genealogy and history section of the library. They have a vault full of original documents and photographs and I don't know what will ever happen to them. I donated a book on our families, including a lot of town history, and it took the library fifteen months to get it cataloged and on the shelf! Thanks for letting me vent! :-| Pat Sabin