Diaries, Letters, and Bible Records are among the most valuable additions we can hope to have for the site. First, they are one of a kind. Only one copy exits, usually in private hands, unavailable to the public or to other descendants. Many even end up on the auction block where they are valued for very different reasons than we genealogists value them. Second, they cover events, relationships, births, marriage, deaths for a period when public records were not kept in our area, Pennsylvania and New York. They may well be the ONLY record of a person's vital dates, or even existence. Third, they are VERY vulnerable.