From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Fri May 5 10:12:42 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k45GCgjb006441; Fri, 5 May 2006 10:12:42 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k45GCeSl007221 for ; Fri, 5 May 2006 10:12:40 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k45Dd4FI027039 for ; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:39:05 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k45Dd49r027038 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:39:04 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k45DQWFI026968 for ; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:26:32 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k45FxvTM020277 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:59:57 -0600 X-Envelope-From: Kith-n-Kin@cox.net Fri May 5 09:59:57 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k45Fxvjb020268 for ; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:59:57 -0600 Received: from fed1rmmtao07.cox.net (fed1rmmtao07.cox.net [68.230.241.32]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k45Fxsfr001374 for ; Fri, 5 May 2006 09:59:55 -0600 Received: from TOWER ([68.0.155.47]) by fed1rmmtao07.cox.net (InterMail vM.6.01.06.01 201-2131-130-101-20060113) with ESMTP id <20060505155950.JWPT27327.fed1rmmtao07.cox.net@TOWER>; Fri, 5 May 2006 11:59:50 -0400 From: "Kith-n-Kin" To: "'FLORENCE SECOR'" , Subject: RE: [ROOTS-L] Historical Societies Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 08:59:49 -0700 Message-ID: <009c01c6705c$f35d06a0$6601a8c0@TOWER> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.6626 In-Reply-To: <002201c67057$ae103040$2f01a8c0@yourf78bf48ce2> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 Importance: Normal X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by admin.rootsweb.com id k45Fxvjb020268 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Florence, Without knowing the specifics, it is hard to say, but a general "rule of thumb": If the "society" is a funded public agency, it is bound by the same rules as any other public agency. If the "society" receives public or private funds, it is obligated to expend those funds according to the grant. In other words, if the grant is to provide a display, it shouldn't be spent on researchers' salaries. And, I suggest, few grants are "operational" funds, but "brick and mortar" or "project." If a contributing entity doesn't like what the society is doing, it can pull the funds. Sad to say, I am on a board which has had to do this, because of failure to attend to business, and poor reporting. Now, as to the degree to which a society needs to answer queries, you'd probably have to go to the "mission" and "operational" statements of the society. Since it sounds as though you have had a bad experience with one of these, another way may be to write to the society again, stating that you received X information, and would like to have the source documentation. Explain exactly what you need. "I need the marriage book #, page #, and line number for the marriage of John Smith and Sally Jones, bond dated 04 Aug 1867. If possible, I would like a photocopy of the page." My history with this sort of thing is that poor responses are usually the result of (a) lack of volunteers and (b) lack of training for said volunteers. Very few historical societies have sufficient paid staff, and none have adequate volunteers. Good luck, Pat (in Tucson) |-----Original Message----- |From: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com |[mailto:roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of FLORENCE SECOR |Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 08:22 |To: ROOTS-M@rootsweb.com |Subject: [ROOTS-L] Historical Societies | | |Does anyone know if the various Historical Societies are |accountable for their operation, other than their board of directors? | |If they receive 'grant' monies, aAre they accountable to that |agency for their operation? | |Are they required to give documentation for responses to |received requests vs. handwritten information without any notations? | |Florence | |