PUBLISHING LOCAL HISTORY...

"Publishing" used to mean collecting information, putting it on paper, and selling the printed paper.   And for something to count as "history" it had to be published, of course!

Even when history -- particularly local history -- was actually published, most information remained inaccessible to many who needed it.  Local history was almost always published in tiny editions that rarely circulated outside the immediate area covered.  Furthermore, there was no assurance that even published local history, genealogy and Americana would remain available after initial publication.  Many local history books and pamphlets were sold only on a subscription basis, in fact.  If you didn't order and pay in advance for that 1873 gazetteer of your county, you could not buy one later -- so you did without.   Consequently, local history has had to pass major hurdles to be handed down to us in printed form.  Sometimes it's amazing that as much has survived as we still have!

The Internet was supposed to change all that, making all the knowledge in the world -- including local history, genealogy and Americana -- freely available to everyone.  The technology supports this laudable purpose, but the missing link is the same one that restricted publishing on paper in the "old days" --  economics.  

Basically, somebody has to do the work!  Whether it's collecting and interpreting previously unpublished information, or locating and digitizing  local history, genealogy, and Americana that was previously published, or even making the world aware that the information is now available, there is still plenty of human work to do.  

Between the Lakes Group does that work.  We currently publish the local history, genealogy and Americana that we recover -- or discover -- on CD-ROM and as downloads.  When we started business, CDs were the only game in town, but as time has passed, the idea of downloads has come along and for the most part surpassed them.  During the past three years we've found that we're increasingly publishing downloads instead of CD-ROMs, in fact! 

When you purchase a local history, genealogy, or Americana CD-ROM or download from us, you will often discover that you are receiving more than you had expected -- that's our hope, anyway!  Sometimes  we add finding aids to the original material.  Often you'll find postcards (or other visual representations from our collection) picturing aspects of the subject at hand.  Sometimes you'll find extra material that was not part of the original book or article -- ephemera that is too small to be republished by itself but which makes your research task easier.

Occasionally, you'll see this label: 

It means simply that the material it references has never been published previously in any form. 

We hope you find one or more of our publications of interest!!  We also hope that you find the free material we offer on this website to be of use.  

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