Still clicking pictures

    Earl, also known at the office as Raul since his name is hard for them to pronounce, is getting quite good with the filming.  He checks out the books from the birth records room, brings them to our little office, works on getting them just right for focus.  Caren fills out the form on the computer to designate which book it is.  The books may be from the late 1800s or from 1940s.  Either can be in pretty good condition or quite bad.  So, here is Earl at work--wearing the visor that helps with the bright lights.

Most of our pages look more like the one on the right, sometimes with holes in them.

This left one was particularly bad, so you had to be a puzzle worker to try to put it

together.  It isn't so much the age of the books, but the humidity and the ink and paper that were used.  Now I am understanding more about acid-free materials!

This week we captured over 4500 images--birth records--which will pretty soon be available onlne for viewing!  The records are sent to Santo Domingo from all over the country to be used by people for various purposes--identity cards, voting privileges, getting visas or passports, etc.