Death of Family History Societies?

[Bo Peep]

When I have travelled around the country to various Fairs, I have met lots of people who have told me that the end of Family History Societies is in sight. Do you think this true, and if so, why?

[MarkJ]

Doubtless this will create a few comments!
I was a member of CFHS for several years, until the decision was taken to team up with a private company for the purposes of making data available online. There was a lot of discussion about it at the time and it was quite heated at times. I disagreed with the final decision and voted with my feet. I still use the CFHS building occasionally for research, but am no longer a member of the society.
I look forward to seeing the comments of others.

Mark

[Colin Moretti]

It seems to me that such problems as FHSs have are common to most voluntary organisations today - in particular the shortage of people prepared to put some effort into as well as take from the organisation. Over the years I have been a member of a number of organisations; at one time there was often competition for (say) chairman or secretary of a group, now the problem seems to be to find anyone at all prepared to take on such tasks and those that do usually stay in office longer than they wish because no one appears ready to replace them.

Colin

[Ed Bradford]

I've been a member of several family history societies but left because I've advanced and they no longer offer any benefit but seem to demand some of my time. I would think that others are leaving or have left over the years for similar reasons. Fortunately there seems to be an influx of new blood to take over the reins and guide the societies onward. The same holds true for other organizations that are similar in nature. In my opinion, their demise is not imminent because what we’re seeing is simply a natural progression.
...............Ed

[Guy Etchells]

When I have travelled around the country to various Fairs, I have met lots of people who have told me that the end of Family History Societies is in sight. Do you think this true, and if so, why?

The death of Family History Societies has been in sight since the mid-seventies (when most of them started).

The reason is very simple they refuse to move with the times.
The saving grace for many societies however is the simple fact that extinction takes many years and therefore many societies will struggle on for a while yet.

A few progressive societies will expand with the new lease of life the internet provides and if they offer distant members value for money will continue to grow.
Cheers
Guy

[HelenVSmith]

I live in Australia and have been a member of Oxfordshire FH and Kent FH for many years as well as a couple in Australia. These memberships I will keep. I have served in many positions on committee in the Australian societies and have done indexing for the English ones

During the last twenty plus years I have also been a member of Devon, Folkestone, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Cornwall FHS but only for a few years in each. This was for a number of reasons:

1. I only have limited money and I also like to eat and occasionally drink.
2. I had utilised their resources that were available to me (and unfortunately as an overseas member you are often forgotten. A classic moment was when I wrote a letter asking a lookup request to one of these societies and I offered to pay for the look-up and was sent a letter that I was lazy and could easily come in and do the research myself. No offer to pay my airfare though)
3 Over the last ten years more products such as our lovely Archive CDs have become available and I have spent more money on them than I am willing to tell family.

Will the societies die? Yes some defintely will decrease, others such as Kent and Oxfordshire will go on just about forever.

Helen

[Rove]

I'm a member of three FHS in UK

I was a member of the Victorian Family H.S. in Melbourne but had to drop out due to the very high cost of today's membership. It is more then double what it is in UK. The UK Societies send me a quarterly magazine by Air Mail and the cost of mailing these to me costs them a fair amount of money.

The Vic FHS also send out a quarterly magazine by mail but this costs them very little. I cannot afford $63 pa plus $14 joining fee. It is ridiculous.

Of course the Library / Office is in the heart of Melbourne and rent is pretty high but they dont have to be in a high rent area.

[Mythology]

...if they offer distant members value for money...

...offered to pay for the look-up and was sent a letter that I was lazy and could easily come in and do the research myself...

And you can add me to the list of sometimes (depending which Society) far from gruntled potential distant members. If I have to go there in person to use their resources, I may as well go to the appropriate repository and look up the originals in the first place.

Furthermore (and this applies to most other outlets, not just Family History Societies), while I appreciate that there are a great many on this forum who would not share this view, if they will not sell me their products, offering only a search "service" instead, then I am not interested. I don't care how experienced the person at the other end is, they don't know my family, and they are not going to spot the same clues that I would by sitting down and reading through a baptism, marriage or burial index, for example, instead of looking for a particular name.

To avoid pointing the finger at any particular FHS, let me give a "non-FHS" example with a happy ending. London researchers will probably be aware of the "London probate index", run as a look-up service for years by Dr. David Wright.
I never used it.
Dr Wright has now started making this available on CD.
I don't care that it cost me £20 and it's only A-E so far - as soon as I saw it on the shelf at Kew, I grabbed it and coughed up happily. I am not rich, but neither am I mean, and if someone offers something useful that I can buy at a reasonable price, I will happily point the moths in the direction of the local council's Homeless Persons Unit.

Family History Societies take note.

[Copper]

Mythology has summed up my feelings exactly. I don't understand why some FHS feel the need to keep transcriptions so tightly guarded.

I have done some transcribing for one society as they make it available on fiche and CD. I have a nice collection of fiche for Cambridgeshire and I am still finding distant relatives on them.

I didn't know about the "London Probate Index".

[Bo Peep]

Mythology has summed up my feelings exactly. I don't understand why some FHS feel the need to keep transcriptions so tightly guarded.

Perhaps like me, societies have had their transcriptions pirated and placed on the Internet!