Murphy's Laws for Genealogists


According to Reader's Digest for December 2001 on page 132, the origin of Murphy's Laws comes from the late 1940's and an Air Force officer, Capt. Ed Murphy who was a very picky aircraft engineer by training.  He complained of an incompetent technician on his team by saying, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he will."  His associates began calling his pessimism "Murphy's Law", and mentioned it in a press conference.  The idea caught on and is with us to this day.
 
If you know of other "Murphy's Laws" for Genealogists (or can create some from your own experiences), e-mail me and I will add them.

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."