Cynthia asked:

....clerks in the office informed me that a privacy act was passed
that restricted my access to records.

Can anyone tell what was passed and what the restrictions are?  Paul,
are you there to explain.

What I really wanted to get was copies of records of my grandfather's
arrest in the 1920's.  Those records are over 80 years old and
grandfather has been deceased since 1958.  What harm would it have
done to allow me to look at them?
************************************

The change in the "hands on" policy results from several concerns.
Perhaps leading in that list of causes is the fact that too many
history/genealogy buffs have stolen documents, torn pages from
irreplaceable record books, interlineated the records with their own
ideas of the event, and oftentimes have been rude, inconsiderate and
unruly in the archives across the country.

Then too, while sometimes their attitudes are understandable, too many
times the clerks in archives are altogether too arrogant, possessive,
and devoid of any willingness to help, all in the name - they say - of
being TOO busy .

Were that not enough, the judges, officers and elected officials of
too many counties all across our nation have permitted - even
ordered - the destruction of literally tons of documents that any
local society or serious genealogist would have been thrilled to own.
In fact, last year I offered to buy with no resale privilege many
hundreds of documents that were to be trashed by a PA county.  I did
not receive even the courtesy of a letter or email saying "Thanks, but
NO thanks."

In the overall view, tens of thousands of the records of our past will
be lost or withdrawn from the facilities in which we might view such
history.

Gary Williams, the long-standing and fine Clerk at Sussex (VA) long
ago undertook to index and preserve his "Loose Papers" hundreds of
which date from the earliest years of that county.  He guards those
carefully, yet because of his efforts such will be available for many
more years into the future.  He is to be commended, and those who have
destroyed or "black-holed" another huge quantity should learn from
him.  There is a difference between those of us who are "students" and
those among us who are merely curious.

Finally, the overriding question is "Who will throw money at the
problem?"  The answer seems to be "Not very many folks and no
governments.

Be thankful for VA Archives and the genies out here who are
conscientious.  Paul

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