Many thousands of Americans will be coming to Britain this
year. Everything reasonable is being done to induce them to come. But one good suggestion I have just heard is new to me. Probably four out of every five of the prospective visitors—possibly fewer, but certainly a substantial number—have roots in this country. Their forbears, three, four, five generations, back, lived in England or Wales or Scotland. That was their native soil, and it is the sort of native soil, with all the traditions that go with it, that appeals specially to Americans. Some of them know a good deal about their ancestors and can go straight to where those ancestors lived and seek some record of them on gravestones or in parish registers. But many know no more than that it was somewhere in Warwickshire or Devon. How can they get anywhere from that starting-point? Sometimes, no doubt, not at all. But often they can be guided straight to what they want. There exist such persons as professional archivists, and firms whose business it is to search out pedigrees. Many parish registers, moreover, have been published and indexed. One com- petent man, seconded for perhaps six summer months from one such firm, could with the help of one or two intelligent typist-secretaries, do for numbers of Americans what, unaided, they could by no possibility do for themselves. The cost—for salaries, stationery and a room in an office—would be small, and many visitors would desire to make a small donation in return for the help they got. Could not the Travel Association or some such body consider this? The existence of such a scheme would, of course, have to be made known by British Information Services on the other side.
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