Bonnie, it might not be as impossible as it looks. Picton Press, owned by Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, has digitized all Maine town records and published CDs for each town. Mr. Rohrbach has indicated willingness to do the same for RI, and there were negotiations in the works with West Greenwich some time ago, but I don't know if anything came of it or not. The problem with RI is that each town has jurisdiction over its own records, so no one organization, like the Maine Archives, can make the decision and grant permission (it's done from microfilm). Picton would do it in return for the right to sell the CDs, and the town would get a copy of the CDs, rather like the Mormon microfilming except that they won't sell the film. I don't think Picton would ever go after this agressively, but it might help if some people interested in the idea would do some lobbying in the right places - the RI town clerks' offices. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "bonnie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:14 AM Subject: [RIGENWEB] Primary Records > > On Aug 28, 2007, at 3:50 PM, [email protected] wrote: > >> Guess we should visit the Town Halls if possible to verify each >> entry. Makes you wonder what else might have been transcribed wrong. >> Don Taylor > > Yes. Then there are those of us who are thousands of miles away from > those Town Halls. My dream is when all these old volumes will be > available online! Anyone know if there is any grand plan for that in > Rhode Island? > > Bonnie, dreaming... > in Oakland, California > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Jane I believe that if enough subscribers to these lists, ask for the Press to do this, it might not only be helpful to us, who can no longer get to these places, but also put some dollars into the library coffers. Each and every library is looking for ways to increase funding. I wouldn't mind contributing to the local level, but refuse to have anything to do with Ancestry or similar paid for view sites. NEHGS is another matter, and have always supported them. As with many members of the RIGENWEB, we are not able to get hands on, anymore. When I was younger, I would drive down and get originals. Now that it isn't possible, or at least not feasible, I would love to be able to access those records, whether on line or on CD. Picton needs to make a profit to produce these volumes, and the library's need capital to support their work. In mine own estimation, they could do it either way, by subscription on line, or by CD. This is Bonnie in Canada new handle "Boops" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane Fiske" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:33 PM Subject: Re: [RIGENWEB] Primary Records > Bonnie, it might not be as impossible as it looks. Picton Press, owned by > Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, has digitized all Maine town records and published > CDs for each town. Mr. Rohrbach has indicated willingness to do the same > for RI, and there were negotiations in the works with West Greenwich some > time ago, but I don't know if anything came of it or not. The problem > with > RI is that each town has jurisdiction over its own records, so no one > organization, like the Maine Archives, can make the decision and grant > permission (it's done from microfilm). Picton would do it in return for > the > right to sell the CDs, and the town would get a copy of the CDs, rather > like > the Mormon microfilming except that they won't sell the film. I don't > think > Picton would ever go after this agressively, but it might help if some > people interested in the idea would do some lobbying in the right places - > the RI town clerks' offices. > Jane > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "bonnie" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:14 AM > Subject: [RIGENWEB] Primary Records > > >> >> On Aug 28, 2007, at 3:50 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> >>> Guess we should visit the Town Halls if possible to verify each >>> entry. Makes you wonder what else might have been transcribed wrong. >>> Don Taylor >> >> Yes. Then there are those of us who are thousands of miles away from >> those Town Halls. My dream is when all these old volumes will be >> available online! Anyone know if there is any grand plan for that in >> Rhode Island? >> >> Bonnie, dreaming... >> in Oakland, California >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message