Greetings, I want to thank everyone that has contacted the Library of Virginia recently with questions about the recently recovered Stafford County volume a 1791 transcription of the Court Order Book from 1749-1755. For those that have not yet seen the story, the first link below provides background. We are still reviewing the book to determine everything we can about it and share that information as widely as possible but I also wanted to thank you all so much for your interest and excitement. As I've mentioned, the Library will need to do extensive conservation work on the book before having it scanned and microfilmed. The first step will be to clean and stabilize the covers and pages before reformatting can begin. As you know, this can be a lengthy and expensive process and we are not sure at this point what the total cost will be. Also, as many of you are no doubt aware, the Library of Virginia through the Library of Virginia Foundation has a very exciting "Adopt Virginia History" program (second link below) that solicits donations to help conserve many of Virginia's treasures - there is a link below to a page that helps explain the program. We will be adding the Stafford volume to the Adopt Virginia History program as soon as we are able to complete estimates. In the meantime, if people wish to make a donation to help conserve and reformat this item, the second link provides a direct link to the Foundation's contact page. Please reference the Stafford County Order Book, 1749-1755 if you contact the Foundation office. Again, I want to express my thanks for sharing your interest. Carl http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/10/jersey_city_library_returns_s p.html http://www.lva.virginia.gov/involved/adopt.asp http://www.lva.virginia.gov/about/contact.asp?dept=foundation -----Original Message----- From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margie Puckett Barton Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 8:03 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] One of Virginia's treasures finally returns! Thank you so much for your reply and I know the LVA will do a great job and I look forward to updates on the book and being able to contribute a little to the expense, not much but every little bit helps. Margie Puckett Barton -----Original Message----- From: Childs, Carl (LVA) Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 4:54 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] One of Virginia's treasures finally returns! Margie, Many thanks for your email - it really is great to see the excitement this "rediscovery" has generated in Virginia. The book is in dire need of conservation work before any research can be done in it. At this point, the plan is for the LVA to have the book's pages cleaned and stabilized and then scanned and converted to microfilm. A copy of the images will be sent to the Stafford County clerk. The LVA will then make the microfilmed copy available in its reading room and by Inter-library loan. This process will take both time and money to complete so I do not have a firm estimate at this time. Carl Library of Virginia Foundation http://www.lva.virginia.gov/involved/adopt.asp -----Original Message----- From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margie Puckett Barton Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 2:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] One of Virginia's treasures finally returns! When will we be able to research the treasures of information from this dear book and John Fox will go down in history as a great person. Margie -----Original Message----- From: KAREN DALE Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 10:14 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] One of Virginia's treasures finally returns! `" The leather-bound book has a broken binder and the pages are yellowed, but it exhibits the flawless penmanship of John Fox, a Stafford County deputy court clerk who in 1791 was given the task of transcribing summarized court records covering 1749 to 1755." Oh my god--how wonderful! Unless you've tried to research in Stafford--especially in that period of the 1700s--you don't know what "catastrophic loss" means. Another early record turned up a number of years ago in the midwest--maybe Indiana? I suspect a number of the record books got used for fuel... Arrgh! How soon can I get my hands on it? > Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:02:21 -0400 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [VA-ROOTS] One of Virginia's treasures finally returns! > To: [log in to unmask] > > Jersey City library returns spoils of Civil War, a 220-year-old book > of court records, to Virginia county > http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/10/jersey_city_library_returns > _s > p.html > > Carl > > Carl Childs > Director, Local Records Services > Deputy State Coordinator > State Historical Records Advisory Board Library of Virginia: Archive > of the Commonwealth 800 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 > 804.692.3739 (phone) > 804.692.2277 (CCRP) (fax) > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > > > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html