Here it is, April Fools’ Day and the first Saturday in April so it is time for Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge on Genea-Musings:

1)  What genealogy record collections would you like to see digitized or indexed?  List one or more.

I’m going to be very specific for a couple of the items on my wish list.

Newspapers – Not only newspapers, in general, but The Calais Advertiser, which began publication in the 1830s and is still sold today. I know the paper has been microfilmed because the Calais Library in Calais, Maine has it. However, at the very least, I’d like to browse it and, at worst, there are way too many events to request lookups. I’ve been waiting for many years and have even contacted both the library to have them ask the Maine State Archives to digitize it and, when the Archives announced they had received a grant a few years ago to digitize more newspapers, I even telephoned to put in a request for The Calais Advertiser, all to no avail.

County Land Records after 1900. As Randy mentioned, few are available online and the handful of times I’ve requested a copy of the deed, the County Clerk offices have told me to hire a title company! Way too expensive!

Catholic Church Records in America – Little by little, they are appearing, but not in Passaic County, New Jersey. Many church offices ignore genealogy requests, even when the date of the event is known.

Court Minutes/Court Orders should all be completely indexed! I often read court minutes and learned many years ago that even if the book as an index, it usually is far from complete.

That’s my list. Having these available and indexed would make researching late 19th century and early 20th century family much easier.

Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge.