Murphy's Laws for Genealogists
On
INDEXES:
"If you're
looking for a specific date, the book is arranged alphabetically."
Corollary:
"If you're
looking for a specific name, the book is arranged by date."
"The number of books you find with apparently great information but no indexes is inversely proportional to the amount of time you have."
On
CENSUS
RECORDS:
"They only
watered down the ink on the entries YOU are interested in."
On
COPY
MACHINES:
"When the
machine grinds to a halt and the light for 'maintenance' comes on,
the person in charge will say, 'The machine was working fine
yesterday; I can't imagine why it won't work now.'"
"The number of operable copy machines available is inversely proportional to the importance of the documents you need to copy."
"The
toner cartridge will run out on the copy made just before you step
up to the machine."
Corollary:
"Toner cartridges are delivered the day
after you leave the research facility."
On MICROFILM MACHINES:
"The person who used the film you
need is the only one who ever comes in and leaves the film on the reel
backwards because they don't know how to rewind."
"When confronted with a strange
machine, there will be no diagram to show you how to load the film."
Corollary:
"The person who knows how to thread
the film just went out to lunch."