Historical societies

I sent a request to the Carver County (Minnesota) Historical Society for copies of four newspaper articles in their archives. I wasn't clear if their "processing fee" was per article or per request, so I sent a check as if it was per article. It was an extra $9, which is no big deal.

They called me today. The fee is per request, so I'd overpaid them. I told her to consider the extra $9 a donation to the society. Historical and genealogical societies do good work for my pastime, and don't always have a super-sound source of funding. So I'm happy to contribute a little bit.

Nevertheless, I spent about 5 minutes on the phone with her as she tried to figure out a way to get me a better deal. Too young to get the senior discount on a membership. Short $3 to get an affiliate membership. Finally I convinced her that it was all right.

Genealogy attracts a weird mix of types. I've run into to people who decided to uncover why I was researching my great grandmother's family, as if I was part of some sort of conspiracy. And others who generously do a bunch of my research just because I am someone who is really interested in telling my family's story.

Today isn't the first time someone called long distance to figure out how to save me $5 or $10 on a record lookup.