Monthly Archives: October 2012

Secretary of State Brian Kemp took $730,000 out of the Archives budget. Gov. Nathan Deal restored $125,000.

Gov. Deal deserves a big “thank you.”

Anyone with basic math skills can see that some of the employees are still in jeopardy.

Vivian Price Saffold

Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced today that the state will restore $125,000 to Kemp’s budget to keep the Georgia State Archives open to Georgians for the remainder of the budget year.
“Georgia’s Archives are a showcase of our state’s rich history and a source of
great pride,” said Deal. “I worked quickly with my budget office and Secretary
Kemp to ensure that Georgians can continue to come to Morrow to study and
view the important artifacts kept there. I appreciate Secretary Kemp’s
commitment to work with me to find a solution.”
The extra funding provides for Georgia State Archives to be open to the public
through June 30 of next year.

On July 1, the Georgia Archives will be
transferred to University System of Georgia, pending approval of the move by
the General Assembly.

This transfer will include appropriations required for
operation and assets of the Georgia Archives. Additional staff will be provided
by USG at that time.

Deal and Kemp intend to find efficiencies by consolidating the Archives under the University System of Georgia, just as the state has sought to do with the library system.
“From the beginning of this budget process, I have stated that it was my hope
that current access to the Archives could be maintained,” Kemp said. “I greatly
appreciate Governor Deal’s leadership and recognize the difficult decisions that had to be made in order to identify this funding. He has proposed a plan that supports Archives not just this year, but for years to come.”
Deal’s budgetary commitment allows Georgia State Archives to maintain its
current access hours.

The following letter is reprinted with permission from Kim “Skip” Murray. Ms. Murray’s eloquence  tells of yet another important use for records in the Georgia Archives.

10 October 2012

Governor Nathan Deal
Suite 203, State Capitol
206 Washington Street
Atlanta GA 30334

Dear  Governor Deal,

I have the deepest respect for anyone who puts on a uniform and is prepared to defend the rights and freedoms of the citizens of this great nation of ours. Your Georgian roots run deep, and you have a long history of service to your state and your country, via the military, the judicial system, and your long political career. You’ve been one of the lucky ones to live the American dream. An education, a beautiful family, and a fulfilling career have all found their way on to the timeline of your life.

Unfortunately, many of the men and women who place an American uniform on their backs do not end up living the American dream, their lives turn into the American nightmare. Veterans make up 11% of the adult population in our country and 25% of the homeless population. Many homeless veterans die alone and forgotten, and don’t receive the honor and military burial that they deserve. All too often their families never know what happened to them.

Across America the forgotten cremated remains of our veterans are sitting on the storage shelves of funeral homes. Some of them have been there for decades. Veterans organizations such as the Missing In America Project are researching the unclaimed cremains of funeral homes, identifying which ones are veterans and arranging military burials for them. Forensic genealogists at organizations such as Families For Forgotten Heroes go to work and identify the living next of kin of these veterans to notify them of the death and burial of their hero. The story of a veteran’s life is not complete until they have received their military burial and their families have been found.

Deceased homeless veterans also end up in the morgues of Coroners and Medical Examiners. The issue of the unclaimed dead (civilian and veteran) is experiencing increasing numbers. This has caused a huge burden on tax payer dollars, as counties must take over the responsibility of the expense of burial when families can’t be found. A group of volunteer forensic genealogists at Unclaimed Persons assist coroners and medical examiners with finding the next of kin of unclaimed deceased people, so that families can be notified and make arrangements for the burial of their loved one.

Forensic Genealogists also assist JPAC – Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, with their mission of accounting for Americans lost during past U.S. conflicts. When the remains of our missing American heroes are found, the remains are sent to the JPAC lab in Hawaii. Forensic Genealogists assist JPAC by identifying living next of kin of these heroes, so that DNA samples may be taken to match families with the remains. It’s a very emotional experience, to see a widow or a child of our military from past conflicts finally receive the closure they have longed for!

Forensic Genealogists can not do the work they do without access to records and documents. I have been following the story of the closing of the Georgia State Archives with great interest. The closing of those archives will inhibit the ability to find the families of the above mentioned veterans, when they or their families have ties to Georgia.

On behalf of those veterans, I implore you to find the means to keep the Georgia State Archives open to the public for the rest of this year, and in January work with the leaders of your state to find additional funding to return the archives to being open at least 5 days per week.

Look into the eyes of yourself, the soldier from a few years ago. One nasty twist of fate, could have turned your life from the American Dream to the American Nightmare. You could have ended up as one of those unclaimed, unhonored, forgotten heroes. PLEASE help us keep access to the treasures in your state archives, so that forensic genealogists can continue their work to return each and every soldier of our country to their families!

Sincerely Yours,

Kim “Skip” Murray
Genealogy Team Leader (Retired), Research Volunteer – Families For Forgotten Heroes
Co-Director (Retired), Research Volunteer – Unclaimed Persons
8807 Gwynn Lane
Brainerd, MN 56401

In this age of digital imaging and online access, many researchers – especially novices – naively believe that everything you need to know about Georgia history and genealogy is on the Internet.

Concerning the looming closure of the Georgia Archives, one researcher recently said, “I hope they have everything scanned and online before they close.”

Right. That certainly would solve the problem. Researchers could access documents from the comfort of their home or office computers or even mobile devices. The struggle over public access to the Archives would be moot.

More than not likely. Downright impossible.

The Georgia Archives has been scanning and placing online documents for several years. The Virtual Vault has been hugely successful. Much of the funding has come from private sources, including the R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, the Alfred Holt Colquitt Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Georgia Genealogical Society.

However, what is online – in the Virtual Vault and every other Internet source – is a miniscule portion of the data that exists. The Archives contains millions of historical state and local records dating back more than 275 years. Millions. More arrive continuously, as governments decommission older documents.

Many of the older documents have been folded and stored for so long that special, time-consuming techniques must be employed simply to get them ready for scanning. Otherwise, just the process of unfolding could be catastrophic.

Even with unlimited staff and equipment, getting “everything” online will take many years. How many? Let’s just say that it will not happen during the lifetime of anyone reading this blog.

In one of many ironic, short-sighted aspects of Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s proposal, the supervisor of the scanning project and the person who uploads data to the Internet are among those Archives employees whose termination has been announced.

Although organizations may continue to fund the talented interns who do a good bit of the work, the entire future of the online project is in jeopardy. The two remaining archivists will try to take up the slack, but just how much reasonably can be expected from these overworked souls?

If you did not have anything else to worry about, consider this: what happens if the state cuts funding required to keep the Virtual Vault up and running?

What we thought was the future of research could be a thing of the past.

Vivian Price Saffold

Weekends in autumn usually find people attending football games or fall festivals.

If you are a researcher in Georgia, the four Fridays and Saturdays in October are especially precious. They are the last chance for patrons to just walk in the door at the Georgia Archives.

In case you hadn’t heard, the Georgia Secretary of State plans to close the Archives to the public on November 1 (except by appointment). He also has announced the termination of seven of the remaining 10 employees.

This past Saturday the Archives was scheduled to be closed, as it has been on every Saturday immediately preceding a Monday holiday since public access was cut to two days a week.

But, the staff of the Georgia Archives, knowing how little time may be left, volunteered to keep the research room open.

They didn’t have to do that. They could have been spending time with their families or doing those traditional fall things. They could have been sending out resumes.

But, these are no ordinary employees. They are dedicated professionals. They believe in the importance of their work. They understand how important the Archives is to Georgians.

They take pride – and rightfully so – in the job that they do. During the last few lean budget years, they have seen their colleagues cut, and they have filled in the gaps.

If the state of Georgia allows the closing of the Archives and lawmakers allocate enough money for the facility to reopen after the coming legislative session, the state will lose these knowledgeable, experienced and obviously generous employees.

Such a move is short-sighted at best. Rebuilding the institution that was once one of the best in the nation will take years and cost more than if it had been allowed to remain open.

Closing and reopening simply is not good enough.

The staff and the citizens of Georgia deserve better. Georgia needs the Archives, and it needs these dedicated public servants.

Vivian Price Saffold