Diane, Somehow, I understood that the transcribing and the posting of transcriptions of the Leslie Brown cards had been cleared with the Duplin County Historical Foundation. I was obviously mistaken. The intellectual property of the Duplin County Historical Foundation is a very real property right. Accordingly, please remove my name as a volunteer to transcribe Herring and Keathley cards. Thank you. Bryan Herring ----- Original Message ----- From: Horace Fussell Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:07 AM To: ncduplin@rootsweb.com Cc: ncnewhan@rootsweb.com Subject: [NCDUPLIN] The Leslie Brown Genealogical Card Collection The Leslie Brown Genealogical Card Collection Please read this entire message. It is addressed directly to the Duplin County NCGenWeb site It is applicable as well to the following counties and possibly others: Greene, Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Pasquotank, Pender Those among you who have written this list to tell others of Dallas Herrings generosity were correct. He was a true southern gentleman who trusted everyone he met. It was his nature to treat each and every visitor the same. I will tell you something that happened years ago. Sonny Sikes, Dallas and I had a small, but growing, database of a few thousand people from our families computerized in a PAF file. A researcher visiting the library asked for a copy of our computer file for his personal use. One day I found our records in an online database of "his collection." Dallas was appalled when I told him. He shook his head in disbelief as he asked me, "Why would anyone do that without even asking our permission?" I have known Dallas Herring all my life. He and my mother were first cousins, were born the same year and grew up as next door neighbors. I have been a close friend and confidant of Dallas since I became a regular at the library in 1981. I remember how thrilled he was when Leslie Browns sister gave his work to the library. I believe Sonny went on the truck to pick up the material. It was evident that Leslies collection was a most valuable addition to the library. Dallas stressed the importance of Leslies index cards as an attraction that would bring researchers to the library. He said that we must always protect them carefully. They offered the best chance for the library to survive. Leslie Browns entire lifetime of research produced those 36,000 cards. The one sad note is that thousands more had been ruined earlier by floodwater and thrown away. Dallas and I spent untold hours discussing his dreams and aspirations for the library. As he grew weaker in 2006, he asked me to spend more time with him and I did. We talked more and more about the future of the library. He gave me very specific details about how he wanted to keep the library in operation in his home as long as it was feasible. He also expressed his wishes for the disposition of the library when we are unable to keep it going in Rose Hill. He told me repeatedly that he was counting on me to do my best to carry out his wishes. In early January of 2007, I stood beside his hospital bed looking down at him. When he sensed that he was not alone, he looked up, startled, but did not recognize me until I spoke. Then his eyes opened wide and he tried desperately to talk, but I could not understand a word he said. "Dont worry about the library, Dal," I said. "Everything is going to be all right. I promise you that. We will take care of it." He looked straight up at me as his eyes filled with tears, reached out to take my hand in both of his. He clutched my hand as tightly as he could and later tilted his head toward the light from the window. After a few minutes, he fell asleep He died the following Friday morning. In reading your mailing list archives, one can very easily see the pattern developing in this plot to put the Leslie Brown Card Collection online: "A few cards from here, a few from there. Donate what you have and we will put them online. We need volunteers to go to the library to get copies We need volunteers to transcribe the cards. Anyone visiting the library, please copy the cards of some of the families." One person even tried to get "volunteers" into the library, probably to copy the cards. (Before the library was re-opened last Fall, the board of directors voted unanimously that it could not be open at any time unless a board member was present and in control because we had some problems in the past with missing records and books.) The William Dallas Herring Memorial Library is a private institution owned by the Duplin County Historical Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation organized and chartered by Dallas in 1987. Several years ago, Dallas deeded his home to the foundation. He expanded the library footage to include almost the entire house, even sacrificing his bedroom. He divided his kitchen into two small rooms, one used as his tiny bedroom and the other converted into a bathroom. He moved his kitchen into his small, enclosed back porch. He put a new tin roof on the house shortly before he died. He left money in his will to pay utility bills, repairs, insurance, etc., for at least a few years, maybe. A few days ago, I told Beverly Tetterton, Local History Librarian at New Hanover County Library, about your plans on this site to put the Leslie Brown Card Collection online because you knew that was what Dallas Herring wanted. I asked for her opinion. She responded with a question of her own. "Why would Dallas give his home, library and gardens to the Historical Foundation in an attempt to keep the library going if he wanted the material put online?" Good question, Beverly! Some wrote to say that Dallas would be so pleased with what you are doing, so glad to have you put the cards online. If you truly believe that, you never understood how much he loved his library nor how he wanted it to remain a treasure for genealogists and historians in the future. You never even really knew Dallas! If you had -- and if you sincerely appreciated what he has put together for all of us -- this letter would not even be necessary. The Board of Directors of the Duplin County Historical Foundation, Inc. respectfully requests the following: 1. That all GenWeb groups immediately cease and desist in their attempt to obtain and post the Leslie Brown Genealogy Card Collection online. The collection is privately owned by the Foundation and no one from GenWeb has ever bothered to inform us of their planned transfer of our property to the Internet. 2. That all GenWeb groups immediately remove and destroy the files for the Leslie Brown cards that you already posted without permission, as well as the files of those not yet posted and the files that might come into your possession at any time in the future. 3. That each of you truthfully answer this simple multiple-choice question: Who really has the right to make the decision to put the Leslie Brown cards online? _____(A) Some of you who claim to know that Dallas Herring wanted you to put them online, regardless of what you have to do to get your hands on them. _____(B) The lawful owners of the collection -- the seven people, including his brother Bob, that Dallas Herring picked to control and manage the library, following his explicit instructions. If your answer to the question above is "B," you pay honor to and show respect for the wishes of a truly great man who gave so much to us and left so much for so many of us. Please insist that those responsible for this travesty do what we have asked of them, and dont forget to call soon to make an appointment to use the library. We would like to thank you in person for your honesty and support. Duplin County Historical Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors Horace Fussell, Jr., President Joseph Wescott, Vice-President Robert B. Herring, Secretary/Treasurer Fred Hintze Kellon Maready Leon H. Sikes Anne Taylor ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NCDUPLIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message