All those boxes and volumes of records still in libraries, archives, historical societies, and courthouses do hold long-lost treasures. I advocate for ordering a box or volume and simply looking through the contents. NOT one specifically related to your family, but just for your own knowledge and experience. I spent years going through some files at the U.S. National Archives (NARA) and was shocked to find the proof of an adoption of a brother for one person. It was not what I was seeking at the time. I was able to present that proof in person and there were tears of joy. Share the knowledge of what you find so that records can be fully described, transferred to the appropriate repository, and hopefully be digitized so that others may find them.
A friend in the archival field often related stories of “found” records. Missing or overlooked old documents in places they should not be. An email from the U.S. National Archives today tells of one recent discovery made 221 years later.
Instagram Post Leads to Recovery of 1810 Census Rolls
“WASHINGTON, June 14, 2021 — Local 1810 census records from Massachusetts, long missing from the collection of census records of the time, are finally in Washington, DC, after a 221-year delay, thanks to a social media post.
A National Archives employee scrolling through Instagram saw a February post from the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) Library that connected archives, genealogy, and Black history, using the 1810 Essex County census record book.
Family researchers and history scholars can now view the digitized version through the National Archives Catalog. . . “
Read the full news from NARA: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/1810-census-massachusetts
© 2021, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.
Pretty irresponsible of PEM not to know that this was federal property!