SPECIAL NOTICE: It has come to my attention that some individuals have been cross-posting my tips here to other rootsweb lists. This is generally frowned upon by rootsweb and many people receive multiple copies then of the post and the list owner of the other list might not welcome the post. So, please, before you post elsewhere, check with me first. I normally give permission to post to other non-rootsweb lists or for use among your friends or genealogical societies. When permission is granted, the copyright information and my name must appear on the post. Thanks for your help! Sandi TIP #431 - THE HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY - THE WPA Did you ever wonder why records in the County Clerk's and Circuit Court Clerk's office are typed up in massive books in index format? Or why deeds, wills or other records were typed out? Did you ever scream when the record shown in that index book wasn't where it was supposed to be in the master book? Did you ever feel anger towards the typing abilities of whoever typed up the indexes? Did you ever wonder why your ancestor's names were misspelled when it was obvious from the original that it was not spelled that way? Well, just be thankful they are there to help us and I'll explain how they got there. During the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal program was instituted. This was to combat the Great Depression and find work for the millions of people without work. In March 1933 until the early days of WW II, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) offered the unemployed work. There were projects in many fields providing $35 million dollars jobs for 500,000 Kentuckians. The result included 14,000 miles of new or improved highways, 9,000 public buildings and packhorse libraries. The WPA in Kentucky also employed artists and writers who produced books such as "Kentucky, A Guide to the Bluegrass State" (1939); it found part-time jobs for high schoolers and college students. Other programs were instituted including the NYA - National Youth Organization; PWA (Public Works Administration) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). Camps were established providing training in forestry, fire fighting and construction. The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) helped rural Kentuckians in refinancing their farms. The USHA (U S Housing Authority) cleared slums. The AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) handled the destruction of crops and animals - a controversial program. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) brought power and light to rural Kentuckians. Another project during this time frame was the Historical Records Survey which was a very short program, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Federal Writers Project. The idea was conceived at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chattanooga, TN in 1936. It set up five WPA administrative districts in the state and was headed by our great historian, Thomas D. Clark who served as temporary state director. The aim of this Historical Records Survey was to" inventory, analyze and preserve public documents of all the states and counties". Teams were set in all of our 120 Kentucky counties with a sub-director over each of the five districts. Who was chosen to do this noble project? The workers were those in need of a job and according to the Kentucky Encyclopedia "varied from almost totally illiterate to the moderately well educated but inexperienced in archival research." Add to this fact that many of the county officers were not doing handstands over this project ... they felt it possibly an intrusion of their time and the privacy of the records - which were in public domain anyway. Thomas Clark served until late 1936, on loan from the University of Kentucky. Oren B. Wilder took his place briefly, then Walter M. Hoepelman, Earl D Hale and Clifford Rader who served until 1941. The project fairly well ended then with officials leaning more towards special war services. By its close, there was a goodly amount of data handled in 63 of the counties. Nine reports were produced which can be found at the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives in Frankfort and the Special Collections Division of the Margaret I. King Library at the University of Kentucky. Many of the typists who handled the records at the courthouse likely had never seen a typewriter before, but I bless them for the hours and hours they spent! They would have worked with the original old hand-written records and if they didn't know the names and couldn't read them, they guessed them often. I have been working with the marriage index books and there are mistakes. They were taught to do an unusual indexing too, putting names that they thought were the same together - often they were different families. One might find the Garretts and Garnetts together in fairly good alphabetical order, the Clark's and Clarke's, the Smiths and the Smythes, etc. They also had to indicate whether the individual was black or white and one can find a bride and groom listed as black in one place, and if either remarried, shown as white. If some of you can remember the old typewriters (the old manuals), letters jumped up into the air, spaces were between letters sometimes, making it hard to decipher it was Jo S or Jos. However; if they hadn't done it, it likely wouldn't be done to this day! So forgive the typos, understand that this was putting bread on the table for them and bless them for their efforts! (c) Copyright, 6 Mar 2003, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved, sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements Ave., Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ GORIN worldconnect website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~sgorin SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html