Thats a funny name for an article, I know, but in this case it applies to a great many hunters. The problem is that we think that we only want to go out and swing that coil and keep putting off any new research time. That always ends up in a big slump. Sound familiar?

Ok, so what do you do about it? The thought of more trips to libraries, or other centers that provide historic information sounds like paying income taxes. Well, I will admit that I spent my time with that problem and just didn't think that I would be able to come up with good information to spice up my hunting. I was wrong and it took me years to finally get the right attitude about it.

Everyone has an off season when either the beach goes dry, or the rattlesnakes are laying all over your relic hunting grounds, or just maybe you are snowed in something terrible. It is always something now and then that makes us stay home and get irritable until we can get out again and "find something". Well, I will say that I learned the hard way, like I learn everything. Actually research is an end in itself and can be quite exciting when you turn up a great old site. I have been very excited just doing Civil War research and reading the old 1861-1865 newspapers. For me that was a special time because I got new information by the bucket loads, not the teaspoons. I learned so much about how things worked back then that completely revolutionized my thinking.

It turns out that the boys in the woods back then all thought much alike when they were picking places to camp. I realized just how much medicine has advanced since then but something like the news got around pretty good even back then. In fact there were sections in the newspaper that I found superior to our current version. One think that impressed me was that the well to do people back then lived far superior than we do now!

You may just have a mental block because you don't know who has what you want and don't want to try to find out. Well, I learned that in my state and most likely in yours there are state level repositories of historic information that may not be advertised too much but are open to public access. Just don't make the mistake of going to a library and not asking where they keep all the old historic things. Generally they keep them out of sight of the mob of Soccer moms and all the kids.

My first breakthrough was to realize that there are maps that show exactly what I am looking for. If you have not found them yet, then keep looking. There are old city books that show where the earliest homes were. There are books and maps that show the old Civil War camps and skirmish sites. You have always felt like you were inferior when you started researching maybe, but you don't need to be.

It is somewhat like finding gold rings at the beach. I see people who go and spend a long time working the beach and they never find anything but pulltabs and some pennies. One of the big secrets of being successful at anything is to realize you can do it. It is like the beach because all those who never find anything but junk don't "believe" that the gold is there. It is the same with research. You must believe all that you desire is there located in one building or another and loaded with lots of your kind of information. You need to persevere until you can breakthrough and reach what you want. I can understand now that I had the wrong attitude about it before when I really didn't believe that they had the kind of information that "I" wanted but they did!

Have you ever felt like a small child asking for another cookie when you went to a librarian? They are there to serve you and you have every right to ask and keep on asking for more information or especially about the things that you don't see. They have much of the libraries information that they can give you if you ask for it. You have to know to ask them for the special library services that they perform for their patrons. I found out that they will continue to buy you new books if you request it. Those expensive kinds too that are loaded with all the goodies. They will draw books in our library from any little dusty town in our state where an old copy may be found! You have every right to approach them and request that they get you the book that you want even if they have to buy it. The poorer counties may not supply all this but the larger ones do. In fact they will respect you more if you check out tons of books and come back for more often. They seem to realize that you are their best customer and they have to please you. Fancy that!

I hope that you resolve to kick out that old inferiority attitude and become a great treasure hunter with all the maps to greater treasures. It is truly there but you will have to believe in yourself and dedicate time to go find out. Chase down those resources at the state level and also don't forget the universities who will generally allow visitors to library access especially if they are "Researchers". That is your password and they will open the goodies up to you because they know that they have to allow prime access to all historic information to these special people. We may have not have thought of ourselves as researchers but that is what we are just like the author who is writing a new book. These days anyone can walk into a library, I know, because the hobo's stay warm all winter where I have researched. The people there will respect you as a researcher and give you more access then the general public some times. They may quickly turn from cold employees to helpful people and realize that they should be offering to help you with your research. After all they may be in the presence of someone famous!