Hello all: I have been following this thread with great interest and concern. In my 25 years of trying to locate information about my Irish Catholic ancestors in Troy I have been constantly amazed at how difficult it has been to get simple information from many of the parish offices. Not that many haven't been helpful, but the time and drain on parish resources is simply too much for them to handle. Indexes are few and far between, so to do an exhastive search of their records is simply out of the question. While I understand the problems and sympathize with their constraints, for me the bottom line is that I have been denied access to information that I feel I have I right to have. Especially since many cases there are the only records available prior to 1870. I am a Troy native and I am quite familiar with the local resources and I would like to volunteer my professional services to this group in order to facilitate a solution to this problem. My education and experience is extensive as an archivist, curator and a librarian (with a specialization in preservation in electronic formats). I would be willing to scan and transfer these records to CD-rom in the event that they cannot be transferred to microfilm. Or I would be willing to work with others to produce an index so that there would be less wear and tear on the original records and more accurate seaching. Obviously, I cannot underake this task alone but I am very willing to work with others dedicated to the preservation of these very valuable resources. Jeanne M. Keefe Visual Resources Librarian Architecture Library Greene Building, Rm 306 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180 Tel: 518-276-2727 Fax: 518-276-3034 E-mail: keefej@rpi.edu