This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4RB.2ACE/3139.1.1 Message Board Post: Some items like minutes are required to be kept forever. But some items like old assessment books are not required to be kept. About two years ago a town clerk in Cayuga County "assumed" that there was a duplicate set of the old early 1800's assessment books for the town at the County Records office and that they were on microfilm. NEITHER was the case and the clerk nver verified such. The clerk assumed wrongly and burned up the old assessment books. And from what we can tell she had every right to do so.