Karen, Folks have given you plenty of good advice. I would add that you should be sure to bring plenty of paper clips. I ran out the first trip I made. I used them to sort out the many photocopies I made. I decided to invest in copies so that I could study the stuff more thoroughly at home. Make sure you copy the title pages too. That helps when you decide to reference what you have copied. I found that making copies of the census records that I wanted was very helpful later. I have referred to them many times. And I have wished that I copied others that I only wrote down the information for. So it goes without saying that you should save up your change for the copy machines! The volunteers are very helpful to explain things. For example how the copy machines work for microfilm. I also would recommend checking out the books first. There are one of a kind things there. And you may find something that will help you decide to look for other microfilms. My limit is usually about 3 days. Besides, you need to take home all of your new found information and process it. Make sure you stop and eat. It is important to keep your strength up. If you start out early when they open the doors, you can stake out a place to work. Plan to work when others are more likely to be eating. Then eat when others are working. The restaurant around the corner is great. Bring sticky notes. They are handy for many things. Bring file folders to keep your stuff organized as you gather it. Bring records of your existing research to refer to. It will help you stay on track. Have fun. Melinda Van Bossuyt llamabb@teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~llamabb/