Ripples On The Pond ...

Raindrops on Water by Leon Brooks
Wikimedia Commons

The current government shutdown is something almost everyone is discussing and about which most of us have an opinion or suggestion, some even espouse some interesting solutions.  Without getting into politics, It has become apparent to me that some of the things I personally rely upon in my online genealogy research are no longer available.  For me, it means the following web pages which I use frequently are currently not operating or else are inaccessible.  This is just my list; we all have "go to" websites.

• The National Park Service - a great source for information about historical battles, monuments, homes, historic places; no access to the Soldiers and Sailors Database
• The National Archives and Record Administration - information may not be up to date; requests for military records may be further delayed in processing; no posting to blogs, facebook, twitter
• The Library of Congress - Historical Newspaper Collection, Veterans' History Program, their collection of historic photographs; no posting to blogs
• The Bureau of Land Management - homestead and land grant records, maps

Until the budget situation is finally resolved, I'll try to use this time to discover and then explore some other online resources which cover these topics.  It is just another reminder how both time and place affect our daily lives, just as it did those of our ancestors.