My friends - I had intended to post another synopsis of a KY Court of Appeals case today, but, instead, I want to offer a few items which may be of general interest. First, another interesting website. For those who are interested in colonial and English handwriting analysis, there is an excellent website that goes into great detail in this area. It is a British site, and can be found here: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/ The material actually covers the English handwriting styles in the 1500-1700 period, but the colonists were primarily from the British Isles early on, and those styles accompanied them to America. Secondly, some of you may be aware that the Florida State Archives has been targeted as an opportunity to slash spending in Gov. Jeb Bush's new budget proposals. The cutbacks in the budget as proposed will all but destroy the effectiveness of that organization and will move their records into other state governmental custodies, thereby creating more havoc. I mention Florida merely as an example of the danger that may be facing many state archives in many states. As we all know, many - perhaps most - state governments are facing financial problems as a result of the state of the economy, the manner in which the federal government has slashed joint funding, and so forth. The Commonwealth of Kentucky, unfortunately, is currently facing a very serious revenue shortfall. While the Kentucky General Assembly is about to go to work on a budget package, the Governor has indicated that state services will almost certainly have to be reduced - some drastically, while, at the same time, taxes will not be raised. Anytime that there is a need to cut spending, the state archives is always a handy target, among other service based government units. Should a proposal surface in the budget process which will dramatically and negatively impact the Kentucky Department of Libraries & Archives, it may be necessary for us to again join together to express our concerns and feelings about such a proposal to the legislators, whether we live in Kentucky or not. The Kentucky Archives is a vital part of the structure on which we genealogists conduct our work. Even though we may never have any direct contact with the Archives, their activities impact every one of us insofar as our ability to get access to records is concerned, whether directly with them, or through libraries and other institutions that purchase document copies from the Archives.I will continue to keep you posted on developments as the budget process unfolds in Kentucky. The KY Archives is among the better administered such units in the US, and I am sure no one wants to see their level of service fall. I am happy to be able to say, too, that I have just about concluded work on the Graves County Order Book G page digitization project. The Index is done and I am currently checking compatibility of CD's on a number of different machines. I hope to be back tomorrow with some additional news on that project. Finally, I have recently acquired a set of the 1922 "History of Kentucky" volumes, compiled by William Connelley and Dr. E.M.Coulter. There are hundreds of biographies in these volumes, some of which are very lengthy and very detailed with regard to the family history of the biographee, and I will be starting a series of these in the near future. Tomorrow is our "book and media" day, on which our booksellers and other subscribers can offer their items as per the guidelines posted some time ago. There will be no data posts, as is now the custom, tomorrow or on the weekend. If I can get another miscellaneous file converted and prepared, I will drop by with that offering at some point. -B ==========================================================================