There is an excellent article in Dick Eastman's newsletter today. The title of the article is Expanding the Reach of Genealogical Societies and Conferences". You can read it at: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/08/expanding-the-r.html He discusses the functions and forms of societies; how they grew and decline. He has some good thoughts that we all could benefit from. He points out that many societies need more motivation and leadership. Many members are just there to "cherry pick" without adding anything beneficial to others in their society or the public, in general. I'm sure we have some of those, too. We can look at his comments and see if they apply to us. What can we do (all of us, not just a few members) to improve the field of genealogical or family history research for others that are looking in our area? We can share what we already have and endeavor to make more of it available to the masses via records transcriptions, indexing local materials, etc. I'm sure that all of us, whether in Durham or Orange counties or Texas or New York, have much to contribute to the public good. All that good stuff gets out on the web because folks like us put it there. We can't wait for Ancestry to do it because they will take longer and want to be paid to access it. So, why don't we do just that? Blow the dust off that list of family members you extracted from the marriage or birth registers (for instance) and send it in to the editors of the Trading Path Journal to share with everyone. I'll bet it will surprise you with the response you will receive. -- Richard =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Richard K. Ellington ITS Data Centers Manager Information Technology Services University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 440 W. Franklin St., CB 1150 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1150 Control Center - http://control-center.unc.edu 919-698-8591 (voice) 919-843-9153 (fax) [email protected] "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job". -Winston Churchill =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=