Dick, there is a very justifiable uproar going on in Oswego County NY where they are going to cut the county historian position from the budget. You can read all about it in the archives at http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=NYOSWEGO Barbara Dix is an OUTSTANDING County Historian and her Records Center is a model for such a facility. I have a special interest in this because an out-of-county private citizen recently responded to my e-mail alert ... I announced that I had found Oswego County poorhouse records up for sale on eBay ... by purchasing them (for a sizable amount of money) and then donating them to that Records Center. I really wish you would consider announcing this situation in your newsletter. I think some more voiced outrage might make a difference. If THIS County Historian & archive is not worth keeping ... then NONE are. And I doubt you or your readers would agree that such a valuable service and devoted public servant should be sacrificed to meet temporary budget problems. Hope you have time to check it out. Thanks, Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady) Host of The POORHOUSE STORY at http://www.poorhousestory.com PS One of these days maybe you could do another story advising local historians and genealogists of the critical need to monitor eBay for local records. Here is a link to one of my newsletters which tells some of this Oswego records story. http://www.poorhousestory.com/N21pwp.htm It's on the REFLECTIONS section.