Yep. You found your way into the hidden stacks that will never see the light of day by virtue of the quantity of such materials that actually has survived. To what end the survival, in that there's just too much to make accessible? Alas. In Somerset, this includes both deeds and court papers, maybe millions of pages (not much of an exaggeration). Some years ago on list here I discussed this "embarrrassment of riches", for which there's simply no budget even to scan (or film, in the old days). much less to index. Few of the strings or ribbons binding the bundles have ever been untied since the bundles were bundled two to three centuries ago. Some of the items, too, are not just originals of things that have been otherwise transcribed, but really unique/different, especially among the Court Papers: e.g., depositions for cases before the court, petitions, even some special sessions of County Court, other things. Unimaginable depth, but lost in plain sight, as it were. An, as you say, much is just slowly crumbling into dust in place. I think of The Dead Sea Scrolls. The problem is insoluble with finite resources. The Archives just barely has enough budget to keep its doors open, much less this. John -----Original Message----- From: Roy C. Pollitt <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Jun 15, 2010 12:26 am Subject: [LDR] Records at MSA John, Your comments on that "collection" of original deeds points out something that I have mused over for years. Back in the early 1980's I "discovered" a possession of the then HofR --- a box of late 18th Century Somerset County court records ... rolled up pieces of paper each tied with ancient "string", actually some sort of cloth shoelaces is what they looked like!