A few years ago I posted an idea for a project to digitize and put online a variety of databases.  I got a ton of cold shoulders from this community at the time.  Despite that, I have indeed moved forward and drawn up plans for an online subscriber database much like those run by other large firms.

Thanks to interest and participation from the genealogy community, the project is moving forward. Their interest has shifted our initial focus from identifying and scanning unique dead-filed maps and tax archives to vital records in California which are difficult or impossible to access on the net.

Those who might be interested in contributing to this effort are welcome to touch base and see if their contributions would be a good match to our work.

We have already begun to scan the dead-filed Assessors Parcel Maps of one county into a database, and hope to have this completed by the end of 2011. After this, we plan to create a digital archive of the old property tax rolls housed in a museum warehouse in San Mateo County. The 1856-1953 rolls will be digitally scanned and placed online, alongside the Vitals Indices and APN maps.

We're working with others to identify unique public records that are not online in other counties in California and around the world.

Ancestry.com and the various Mormon genealogy groups are harnessing the power of the internet to connect people by bringing professionals together and by using volunteers to index records. My suggestion now is the same as it was years ago: we will contribute our research results and experience to a central database, if others are willing to join us in this joint effort.

If you're one of those who said that more records were coming off-line than going on, then you're already out of business in the modern economy. Everyone left standing has clearly adapted to the new state of our industry and will recognize the value of such efforts.

This is NOT any sort of solicitation for investment, just an invitation to “sit down” with us over email, and show us what you can contribute. Our work above is what we're already doing. Will you join?

Hell, lets build a super database then sell out to some mega-corp in 10 years!....ah, dream big....