As one with many Luzerne County roots, I am surprised and a little sad that money is going to be spent for another building for historical records. Already existing are the Osterhout Library with many old records, The Historical and Genealogical Society, Two colleges which I am sure have good libraries albeit I have never been in one. Why can't an agreement be made to store the associations new records in one of the above. In the county were I am living now, the West Florida Genealogical Society works with the public library. They buy books, the library makes up records for them and shelves them. Volunteers from the Society are at the Library most days to help give genealogical assistance to researchers and help with routine shelving and minor tasks like that. IT is a win-win. Also, closer to Luzerne, in Wyoming County old records from the court house are given to the Historical Society to archive. If the Gen. Society and one of these other institutions worked to gether maybe they could work out a similar arrangement. Marcy Trembath Pitkin, Pensacola, FL

Hello Marcy, I think you are missing the gist of the announcement. Our Society is not acquiring a building to house old records, per se, but rather for our library and office. Although the NE PA Gen. Society is ten years old this year, we have not had a permanent home for all the books, journals and microfilm we have accumulated during those years. These are stored in a number of members' homes and no one has access to these materials. Every Society I have ever visited has a permanent home except ours. Putting our materials in another building is not a good option. First, the Osterhout does not have the room and the Luz. Co. Historical Society has even less. Secondly, we would not have control over the access and would have to rely on the other institution's hours of operation in order to use materials owned by our Society. By the way, the Osterhout does not have any original records, except perhaps donated private papers, in its holdings. The Historical Society may have some, but most original records are either held in the Court House or have been deposited in the State Historical Library and Archives in Harrisburg. The cemetery records being microfilmed by the Society are copies of original records, but are gradually being made available as computer-indexed publications. Doug Nicol, VP, NE PA Genealogical Society