Please everyone, send out your emails ASAP to help support Barbara Dix's position. Thanks again! D.T. my copy sent to [email protected] Mr. Lyman, I've recently learned that you are planning on relieving Ms. Dix of her position as Oswego town historian. I'd like to say that I think that is a very wrong move. Barbara Dix has been an asset to Oswego County for many years and has always been helpful and productive in her position. She is a most beneficial person to keep ON your staff, regardless of your budget cuts. She has the attention of most of the internet activity that happens for Oswego Co., meaning genealogy, the 2nd largest usage of the internet. She is the "icon" representing Oswego Co. I can not say enough good about her and what she has done to create more business of doing genealogical research in Oswego Co. to people all over the United States as well as in some foreign countries. Please re-consider this budget cut, because you will be losing more that you may know or realize. Barbara is a wonderful asset. She has been loyal to her position all these years. Please don't send out a message to all of us researchers that you can just discard her loyalty, her devotion to her position and her pleasant contact with the general public. Barbara Dix is the keystone to keep people in touch with Oswego County. Dianne Thomas a former resident of Oswego Co.

I suspect that the ONLY thing likely to persuade the "number crunchers" & "bottom-liners" will be to provide evidence of how much money is brought into the community because of genealogy tourism. Can someone poll motels, etc. to see if they will hazard a quess (or maybe even keep statistics) about how many guests nights per year may be genealogy related? Can any of you who visited to do research include information about what you spent "in county" on gas, motels, meals, etc.? Has the historian and/or historical society hosted meetings/conventions where people from outside the community came in ... and (how'd you guess) ... SPENT MONEY! Then ... a few testimonials stating that the opportunity to work with a knowledgable and available historian was the attraction which brought them there will help. Obviously, the implication ought to be that WITHOUT an historian this genealogy tourism will be lost. Could Ms. Dix have kept a log of people from out-of-town whom she served? Maybe that could be translated into tourism consequences. Best Wishes, Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady) -----Original Message----- From: Dianne [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 7:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Oswego Co. Historian

I have never visited Barbara Dix, but I wrote a letter anyway. I hope I get the chance to meet her someday. Liz Parmalee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Poor House Lady" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 5:45 PM Subject: RE: Oswego Co. Historian > I suspect that the ONLY thing likely to persuade the "number crunchers" & > "bottom-liners" will be to provide evidence of how much money is brought > into the community because of genealogy tourism. Can someone poll motels, > etc. to see if they will hazard a quess (or maybe even keep statistics) > about how many guests nights per year may be genealogy related? Can any of > you who visited to do research include information about what you spent "in > county" on gas, motels, meals, etc.? Has the historian and/or historical > society hosted meetings/conventions where people from outside the community > came in ... and (how'd you guess) ... SPENT MONEY! Then ... a few > testimonials stating that the opportunity to work with a knowledgable and > available historian was the attraction which brought them there will help. > Obviously, the implication ought to be that WITHOUT an historian this > genealogy tourism will be lost. Could Ms. Dix have kept a log of people from > out-of-town whom she served? Maybe that could be translated into tourism > consequences. > > Best Wishes, > Linda Crannell > (aka=The Poorhouse Lady) > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dianne [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 7:08 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Oswego Co. Historian > > > > ==== NYOSWEGO Mailing List ==== > New York GenExchange > http://www.genexchange.com/state.cfm?state=ny > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >