CompuServe Messages

Phil, It seems that much of what you folks (and the Smithsonian) have done so far is primarily image oriented. It also seems to me that you've still got a lot of opportuinity there: certainly a CD of page images is not as useful as a full text searchable database, but it beats heck out of a stack of yellowing paper locked in a warehouse. (FWIW, up here in the boonies (Northern New England) Dartmouth is still running around microfilming the small town weeklies preserved in the small town libraries, and quite pleased with itself thank you). Since this stuff is of interest almost solely to historians, I'm afraid the money does have to come from that kind of source. But at thr right price I think you have the opportunity to sell a whole lot more copies (every college in the country instead of only univerieties). As for text, I think you'll need to make deals with private companies for access. We do scanning for a living, so I know _very_ well <smile> just how much it costs. OTOH, I also know how hard it can be to locate originals. You can solve that problem, and get at least your cosls covered, and/or force the price down to where there's a copy in the public library of every county seat in the country. Frank