Thank you for that toll free number. I've been calling Salt Lake City at the regular pay-thru-the-nose land line.

You can ask all kinds of questions. They are very patient, and helpful.

You can ask them to further decribe volumes in their collection, for instance. Sometimes manuscripts are not fully described in the online catalog.

Utah is the most multilingual state in the union because they learn languages to go on their international missions. So they are willing to translate passages for you.

Their librarians specialize in different regions and countries, so you can ask to speak to a specialist for a particular area who might be able to point you in the right direction.

I've had good luck with many respositories, including the Sutro Library in San Francisco. Their genealogical collection is second only to Salt Lake City's.

I'm told there is another major genealogical collection in Indiana.

There was a particular set of books I needed to consult. Salt Lake City had two, or three volumes, and Sutro had two others.

Sutro has gladly read affadavits, and wills in their collection to search for mentions of Petronila Moctezuma for me.

I've held books so old they made me tremble. One set was in the hand of the conquistadores, describing what they found in the Filipinas. It was really creepy because I thought it was bound in human skin. But I was told it was actually pig leather. A very pale, translucent really, flesh-like material.
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