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The pre-1900 estates (1804-1900) that you are referring to were being stored in the historical societies fireproof vault, they had from 1804 to 1853 and they were waiting to receieve the rest. I had indexed and inventoried all of those plus those from 1900 to 1930, I quit there because we were missing a few years after that and expected they would be delivered at some point. One of the commissioners gave the historical society permission to store the post 1900 estate records that were kept in a storage area to an area of the old jail, a storage area had been promised by several county persons over the past few years. She, being on the records committee, for some reason that still baffles us all, had a fit and reclaimed the estate records from the custody of the historical society. She plans to send the pre-1900 estate records to the state and to destroy the post 1900 records. This is not to protect them or for any noble cause, this is just to prove she can and as I stated for spite. There was absolutely no need for her to do what she did. The state will not take post 1900 records after a certain date. I have handled over 10,000 of them and worked with those records for 15 years and can assure you that they are not fragile, in fact the older the records are the better the condition because of the higher quality of paper used back then. I agree that microfilming them is a great idea and will help preserve the originals, but the originals should be preserved and made available by special request. For instance you can read the letter and will of Sgt. James Crawford killed in battle during the War of 1812, but to see the letter with its wax seal and actual state is a real treat. If sent to the state we will never see it again, and there are other like it, not to mention our own families original wills, you have to admit seeing the original is a great difference from viewing it on microfilm.
Her friends at the genealogical society can invite her to speak and put this in a different light, but I can assure you she is no friend of the genealogist and historian. If you go to the rootsweb board run by ancestry.com and read the string there you will find more of the conversation about this subject.
Public pressure is the only thing that has saved them so far. I personally have no axe to grind with her, but if I said nothing then nothing would have been done to stop it, and this is not the first time I've had to do it.
I also belong to the society and live in Mercer County, my number is in the book if you would like further information.
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