History, both Local and Family, lost

The Williamsport, Warren County, Indiana library burned, almost to the ground, last night (Sunday, October 8, 2006). It was four (4) years old. The fire was started in a dumpster and spread to the roof, where it ... "spread like wildfire" ... burning books, displays, shelves and historical documents indiscriminately. (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061009/LOCAL/610090436 and http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5514765, which just ran a story on the fire, much longer than what's shown, here.)

Being my family's "historian", and knowing that one part of the family came from Warren County, I'm sure that papers that would have been available, there, are no longer. And it was ARSON! (Why would anybody set a fire to a library? Just for "fun"? What kind of "fun" is this? You have devastated the library staff, patrons (daily, weekly, or even occassionally), children who visited for story-time and to check out books for themselves, townspeople, county officials, those who donated books and their family papers to the library, those who gladly paid (and even though who didn't) extra taxes and funds, for the building, and many others. Happy? (IDIOTS)

I hope this also points out to EVERYONE that there are assholes in our midsts that care nothing for education or local history. PLEASE be sure to keep an eye out (small towns through big cities) when travelling around your, or others', towns. If you see ANYTHING suspiscious, report it (call 911) IMMEDIATELY. This town just lost a new jewel. They plan on rebuilding, but there were many items lost that are irreplacable.

I also hope this points out to people, everywhere, that your historical records are just that close to being gone. With the advent of computers, money should be spent and time should be taken to at the very minimum scan every historical document (papers, pictures, books, etc.) you have into the computer. Then make copies and keep at least one "master copy" of them off-site. This includes every town/city with historical records in special rooms, stored in the basements (there HAVE been floods that have destroyed records), every courthouse and library (and whereever else they're stored), museum, etc. I have ideas about this, if anyone is interested.

This admonition also includes every family with old family documents, pictures, bibles with pages of listed family, etc. Think of all the people in New Orleans and elsewhere who have lost every picture, every document, everything, pertaining to their family. They have lost irreplacable items handed down from generation to generation. With off-site scans, they could be reproduced... Not the same as the "real thing", but better than nothing at all.

No matter how "safe" and "protected" you feel you are by sprinkler systems (water destroys records), Halon Systems, Security Systems, alarms of any type, watchmen, or whatever type of system you have, you are vulnerable to assholes. Just like those who send out computer viruses, trojan horses, adware, spyware, etc., that are only built to cause problems and destroy others' computers and records, they are out there. They could care less about "historical value", "business records", "personal records", etc. They exploit the smallest "hole" in the security. All they want to do is destroy.

Remember, that at one time, all of the federal census records were stored at Commerce Building in Washington. There was a fire:

[The 1890 Federal Census images and indexes on Ancestry.com] have been extracted from the remaining population schedules for the 1890 Federal Census, which was destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC on 10 January 1921. The surviving fragments consists of 1,233 pages or pieces, including enumerations for Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. The records of only 6,160 of the 62,979,766 people enumerated survived the fire.

(Source: Ancestry.com, 1890 Census - http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=5445&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0 - MY bolding - BS)

Even the Federal Government is vulnerable, and THEY should know better. Spend the money to scan all of our National records.

I've heard it said over and over that to know someone, you must learn their history. We learn from the past and mistakes made. If all the history is lost, how will we ever learn? Whether you are interested or not, others may be. (Many family historians are thought to be crazy by their families... They want every scrap of paper, copies of every picture, copies of various documents, etc. And many are "pack rats". It's necessary to PROVE someone was who they said they were, where they were, what they were, etc.) Although images (scans) are not the actual documents and, technically, can be "massaged" (think of all the fake pictures sent around in emails), they are better than nothing, and if the actual document is destroyed, they may be all we have.

Various organization are involved in a "Save Our History" campaign, tied in with the History Channel. Part of our "history" is the history of our families. When it's gone, it's gone.

Scan those records. Create databases. Back them up and save copies FAR AWAY and safe from damage, if something should happen to where the actual records are stored. ("In a fire safe" on the same site means nothing. Fires in these buildings can reach temperatures high enough, for long enough periods of time, to damage or destroy things in many of these safes.) It's worth it.

Bill Sanders