The digital things are fine if YOU USE THEM AS GUIDES AND OUTLINES. Hard copy from the courthouses, genealogy libraries and FAMILY records are the true test. Just because you find it online, it has to be backed up by real data. Sometimes family member put in edited versions or leave out people who have perpetrated slights against other members. It happens. Checking histories and finding your ancestors at Guildford Courthouse is an interesting discovery or some other history of the Shenandoah Valley and find GGGGGGranddady founded the first general store or trading post at a fort founded a Hawkins ancestor. Trust, but verify. John Philip Adams Texas -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Huffstutler, Eric S. Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 10:02 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Genealogy Future I'm sorry, I still can't correlate the digitalized materials versus one-on-one communications of the past? You have to remember that I use to run a Fidonet BBS Hub in Richmond before the Internet took off. One of the areas I covered was Genealogy emails. Then I hosted 2 GenWeb county sites and participated heavily in the pre Rootsweb server lists and later Rootsweb ones. I have first hand seen the downward slope. Just because there are digital images somewhere doesn't mean that everyone has "access" to them. And they don't contain everything for one reason or another. You have an aunt Hazel that is not seen on any of those databases yet someone may have mentioned her name in an email search years ago and others who would "read" those post could connect. But if people don't post messages nor their trees online any longer and that person you seek is out of reach to find, how do you? Where do you? It is a Catch 22 frustrating situation especially for those on fixed incomes or lack the skills. What I am saying is that 10+ years ago we had a bounty of information flowing from all directions from distant cousins and strangers alike and now we don't. Homegrown websites are vanishing or extremely outdated. Databases have become monopolized to a certain extent and so being are pay only and pay only up front for a year subscription rather than month to month on a per need basis. A lot of information can be obtained in one month so why pay a year if you don't need or can't afford to? And then you have data outdated on them especially trees that subscribers uploaded and haven't updated in years. People rely heavily first on trees to get a direction especially when dates, places, or relations are unknown. Eric -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rondina Muncy Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 10:34 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Genealgy Future I'd like to add that lack of color can also affect analysis of a document that has been digitized. The Sanford Fire Insurance Map Collection is a particularly good example. The early originals were created using colored paper which indicated what material the buildings were made of. This information is lost if they are not scanned in color. The original discussion was addressing the reason why so many databases are no longer being updated and questioning whether genealogy was on a downward slope. I believe that the wealth of original documents online is the reason. (Although it represents only a small fraction of the material we need.) While online images have the same problems as Barbara stated, and as microfilmed copies have, I still believe that this is why there is now a lag in databases being maintained (sans those on major sites). Rondina * * * This E-mail, along with any attachments, is considered confidential and may well be legally privileged. If you have received it in error, you are on notice of its status. Please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this message from your system. Please do not copy it or use it for any purposes, or disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you for your cooperation. * * * To ensure compliance with Treasury Department regulations, we inform you that, unless otherwise indicated in writing, any U.S. Federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state and local provisions or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein. Disclaimer Version RS.US.1.01.03 pdc1 ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html