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Archiver > GENIRE > 1999-08 > 0933733056


From: "Denis Grant" <>
Subject: Re: Family Heritage Centres - an alternative approach
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 22:17:36 -0400


Arlene,
You're quoting R Warnock.
Anyway, you've only got me going with the 'closed to the public' deal.
Closed to the public- translate: waiting for the highest bidder to come
along.
Denis
----- Original Message -----
From: Arlene Colthirst <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 4:04 PM
Subject: Re: Family Heritage Centres - an alternative approach

> Denis, you are correct, of course, when it comes to Civil records
> but what about Church records - Professional Irish genealologists are not
> too pleased about the fact that the Bishops of Limerick, Kerry
> and Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly have arbitrarily 'closed' to public
> scrutiny their sacramental records, when the Centres for those areas were
> established.
>
> Another point aside to this is: not everyone wants a computer print-out.
> Original record copies are, I think you might agree, preferable,but more
> expensive to get from the Centres, but at leat one is assured of accuracy
in
> the information.
> wrote in message ..
>
> >R Warnock () wrote:
> >
> >: If the Irish Parliament spent its money on microfilming and
> >: distributing it to local libraries it would escape the adverse
> >: comments that pervade Irish research at present. The ball would be in
> >: the researchers court and if you don't find a record then it either
> >: doesn't exist or you haven't looked properly.
> >
> >You've missed the whole reason for existence of the Heritage Centre
> >system. What you are proposing is already available in Dublin, and
> >possibly from LDS Family History Libraries. The point of setting up the
> >heritage centres was to provide a computer database to index the records.
> >Of course, if you already know the name, date of birth, and parish, then
> >there is no value in this. You can look up the microfilm at the National
> >Library, crank the reel 'til you get to the right page (assuming that
> >year's book didn't get "burned in the fire" or otherwise lost) and
> >transcribe the data you want.
> >
> >If on the other hand, you only have a vague idea of which parish, or the
> >exact dates, then a computer database is of enormous value.
> >Allegations about the quality of the data, and variety of pricing
> >structures aside, this is very different from simply having microfilm at
a
> >local Library. If you are at the locality anyway, why not try and see
the
> >original books themselves? It's worked for me, but I've also taken
> >advantage of the data at a heritage centre as well and benefitted from
> >both.
> >
> >-dja
> >
>
>

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