INMONROE-L@rootsweb.com Hi, folks, On Friday, June 22, 2000, there was a lengthy article on the front page of the Bloomington HERALD-TIMES entitled "County Records Move a Success." This article pertained to historic township and county records that have been stored in a dirt floor room under the Monroe County Courthouse. In May, Iris Kiesling, president of the Monroe County comissioners, prepared an emergency memo that rescued some of the records and consigned others to the trash heap in an effort to clear out the basement to make room for repairs. Some of those records were moved to the attic of the Health Services Building where other county records were already stored. In order to make room for the incoming records, some records already stored in the attic had to be relocated. In fact, at least 22,500 pounds of records made it to the dumpster in fat truckloads. Although the article was not specific about the nature of the records that were destroyed, it noted that the state mandates that certain records can never be discarded, e.g., land records. In fact, most the the 19th century mortgage and land records, about a hundred volumes, have already been placed in the Monroe County Historical Society for preservation. So what exactly was discarded? Well, your guess is as good as mine. I have heard that the Monroe County's early tax records, incredibly dusty and moldy, were among those items stored on the basement floor. Although a few of the tax books, the ones from the 1940s were mentioned specifically, were saved because of state mandates, it was not noted whether or not all tax books survived. If you are interested in Monroe County records, I suggest you read this article for yourself. Check it out at <www.HoosierTimes.com>. Or you can probably track down a copy of the article through the newspaper or the library. Personally, I'm going to make a few phone calls and try to better inform myself. Randi Richardson -