Hello Ed, You mentioned " I was thinking about something transparent like a piece of plexiglas to place over the entire document, instead of weights to position on the corners and edges, but it would have to be glare-free to be able to get good pictures." I failed to mention that they do have a large plexiglas sheet for that purpose. Many times however you will have to ask the folks at the counter where it is regarding camera station #1. I've never saw the plexiglas at station #2. Very few times I've saw it at the camera station where it belongs.

The CMSR's were made for the Union first and if my memory is correct it was started in 1886. The genius behind the CMSR's was General Ainsworth and his staff. The CMSR's are his work and are not the original records used during the war however his information came from various states muster rolls etc. They were just a lot of pre-printed typed forms we know now as CMSR's. The were folded in what is known as tri-fold. If you will look at the very bottom of each CMSR's record they will bear the name of the staff member and sometimes a reference as to where they obtained the information from. Those are the documents I enjoy going through if I can, the original source. While General Ainsworth and his staff did an outstanding job they like anyone else at times made a few mistakes because of the sheer volume involved. Congress saw the wonderful system at work and the bureau of pensions used them for their various claims. What may have taken days to retrieve in the early 20th century now only took a few minutes.

Again if my memory is correct General Ainsworth and his staff started working on the Confederate CMSR's in 1903. The United States government was less than excited that he was doing Confederate CMSR's. About 1912 tensions had grown so bad that General Ainsworth was threatened with being Court-Martialed over the continued making of Confederate CMSR's. The government wanted him to pursue other work. General Ainsworth resigned from the military rather to face a Couth Martial. General Ainsworth did 50 million plus CMSR's from the American Revolution through the Spanish American War including the Indian Wars. He also over saw the Official Records of the Rebellion which we all refer to at time or another. We all owe General Ainsworth a great deal of gratitude in my opinion.

I may have mislead you Ed........The archives does not charge for taking a digital photograph they only charge .25 cents for making a xeroxed copy. .75 cents if an over sized page is required to xerox. Don't give them any ideas! LOL