{"id":3350,"date":"2025-04-16T15:39:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T15:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2025-04-16T15:39:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T15:39:06","slug":"genealogists-family-historians-this-isnt-politics-its-a-paper-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3350","title":{"rendered":"Genealogists &amp; Family Historians &#8211; This Isn\u2019t Politics. It\u2019s a Paper Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"356\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Disapper.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Disapper.jpg 356w, https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Disapper-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Disapper-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 85vw, 356px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>I typically don&#8217;t blog twice in a week but I received a reply to an email I had sent with the concern I raised about the quiet disappearance of historical records from several U.S. government websites. These weren\u2019t obscure documents\u2014these were public records I had accessed online before, copied, and cited. I even included the original URL and step-by-step directions. But today? \u201cNo such record exists,\u201d I was told\u2014unless, of course, I want to pay a fee and <em>maybe<\/em> someone at the agency will \u201cresearch\u201d it for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My library contact passed along to colleagues my email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reply? \u201cShe\u2019s just being political.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No. I\u2019m being factual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening, and it deserves attention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Government agencies are quietly removing access to records once available online.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Researchers are being told those records never existed\u2014even when we have the receipts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In some cases, agencies are offering to retrieve them for a price. Same record different paywall.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When we raise concerns, we\u2019re dismissed as overreacting or \u201cpoliticizing\u201d the issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not a partisan problem. It\u2019s a <strong>public trust problem<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t think this affects you, try sourcing a vital record for a family history project or accessing a land claim file for historical research. You might find a broken link\u2014or worse, a dead end with a price tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think I\u2019m exaggerating, feel free to test it yourself. If you&#8217;d like to email me, I\u2019ll be happy to furnish the documents I accessed in the past\u2014along with the original URLs. Try retrieving them now. See what you find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spoiler: It won\u2019t be what it used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t about politics. And if researchers stay silent, it\u2019s only going to get worse. It\u2019s about the deliberate <strong>erosion of public access<\/strong>, the rewriting of digital history, and the arrogance of institutions that think no one will notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I noticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\u2019ll keep noticing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because someone has to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I typically don&#8217;t blog twice in a week but I received a reply to an email I had sent with the concern I raised about the quiet disappearance of historical records from several U.S. government websites. These weren\u2019t obscure documents\u2014these were public records I had accessed online before, copied, and cited. I even included the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=3350\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Genealogists &amp; Family Historians &#8211; This Isn\u2019t Politics. It\u2019s a Paper Trail&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1276,1277,1275],"class_list":["post-3350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trends-and-musings","tag-public-access","tag-record-removal","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}