To all who want to Save the Archives Library

Donna Boley, Long term state senator from St. Marys, W.Va. sent me the following message before the November Interim Committee meetings:

November interims will be Monday (11/26) Tuesday (11/27) and Wed (11/28). Interim meetings start at 9:00 a.m. Monday and runs thru Wed afternoon. These are a series of committee meetings taking place in various places in the capitol. WE WILL NOT BE IN SESSION so it is not possible to bring the issue to the floor. You will have to call and make appointments with your legislators or just go to the capitol and catch them before or after an interim meeting. You can go on www.legis.state.wv.us and run a copy of the Interim committee meetings. Then if you want, go into the different committees listed (at the website) and you will see who is going to what meeting. I do not plan to bring the issue up on the floor as I said before, we are not in session. You might want to visit various offices of your senators and delegates and leave them with your message in writing if you don't get to see them in person. Legislators secretaries will be in their offices. If you can't get a copy of the interims before Monday - ask any secretary for a copy of the 3 day meetings. Hope this helps.

Several of the members of the Mining Your History Foundation attended the meetings just to talk to our legislators. Many of the legislators were friendly and receptive to our message. We also learned that some of the legislators had no idea what was taking place at the Cultural Center so we had to explain to them what was going on and ask for their help in Saving the Archives Library. Overall, most of us enjoyed talking to our legislators and plan to attend the interim committee meetings in December.

We spent almost an hour with Donna Boley showing her the actual printed information we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act regarding Kay Goodwin's detailed plans for moving the State Archives Library and replacing it with a cafe/gift shop. We pointed out that the W.Va. Code 29-1-6 states that the Archives and History Section is to collect, preserve, and protect state, local government, and family historical archival records. They are also to operate and maintain an Archives and History Library in the Cultural Center for the use by all who have connections with the state of West Virginia.

Mrs. Boley reminded us to be sure and attend the December Interim Committee meetings which will be held from Sunday afternoon, December 9, 2007, through Tuesday afternoon December 11, 2007.

We are urging all Historical and Genealogy Societies to organize and try to get three or four members there every day.

Since the meetings start on Sunday, people who work doing the week have the opportunity to attend the meetings on Sunday

We also talked with Delegate Patti Eagloski Schoen from Putnam County. She told us it is very important for as many people as possible to attend the interim meetings and talk to their senators and delegates. She suggested that we should contact all of the genealogy and historical societies and suggest that they attend the December interim meetings. If they can't come to the Capitol, they should call or e-mail their representatives at their home and tell them how important it is to Save the Archives and History Research Library.

Delegate Schoen contacted Dan Kimble, legal advisor to the Speaker of the House of Delegates and made an appointment for us to see him. We met with Mr. Kimble Friday, Nov. 30, 2007, and he gave us some ideas on how we should go about introducing legislation to Save the Archives.

Don't forget to attend the Save the Archives Rally on Tuesday, December 4th at 5:00 PM. at the Christmas Tree on the North Side of the Capitol. Wear some blaze orange to show your support. We will be collecting signatures on petitions. At November's Rally we got over 100 signatures.

Ginny Gillespie