Franklinly My Dear
I work at the local county history museum. Part of my job is helping people with their research involving historic documents that originated in or pertained to the county. People can come to the museum and request to look through the archives, with help and supervision from me or one of my colleagues, for personal projects, business research, or just out of general interest and curiosity about our local history.
Today, I had a middle-aged woman come in looking for information about a recently deceased distant relative.
All names and locations have been changed, but should serve as an illustration of the challenges I faced with this woman’s request.
Me: “What was your relative’s name?”
Woman: “Adam Geneson.”
Me: *After searching the database.* “I’m afraid we don’t have any records for an Adam Geneson. In fact, we don’t have any records from anyone with the last name Geneson.”
Woman: “Are you serious?”
Me: “I’m afraid so, ma’am. If you have any other information that might help, we can try putting that into the database and see if we get a hit. For example, do you know what his home address was, or the names of any businesses he might have owned?”
Woman: “He lived at 123 Apple Lane, Franklin, Pennsylvania.”
Me: “I’m sorry, did you say Franklin as in the city of Franklin?”
Woman: “Yes.”
Me: “Ma’am, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place. This is the Franklin County Historical Society, in the city of Chambersburg. The city of Franklin is located in Venango County, about two hundred miles northwest of here.”
Woman: “What does that have to do with anything?”
Me: “We only have records for Franklin County, not for the city of Franklin. If your relative lived in the city of Franklin, you’ll need to go to the Venango County Historical Society to search through their records.”
The woman instantly switches gears and starts yelling and swearing about how I “wasted her day”, and I “should have told her sooner that she was in the wrong place”.
Fortunately, she left on her own, yelling and swearing the whole way out the door, without me needing to call our security guard over to deal with her.
