Perhaps the most under-utilized source for family papers, letters, and family history is the manuscript collections which are housed in major universities and colleges all across the country. How do we find them? The Library of Congress has indexed and catalogued them, and brief descriptions are on line. Remember the days of the old card catalogues that libraries used to use? This is now done electronically. Using Google, type in NUCMC, then fill in the name of interest. You may get as many as a dozen or more listings. Click on the underlined words: More Information. Forge ahead, and follow the directions. Accessing the card catalogue is FREE, but obtaining copies of the documents does involve copy costs and postage. If the repository is near you, feel free to go there and read the files of your choice. NUCMC, or the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, is a free-of-charge cooperative cataloging program operated by the Library of Congress. Check out the resources find out more about the program, about archives and manuscript repositories, and about topics of interest to archivists and their institutions' patrons. Contact NUCMC