One solution is for local/state/federal government archives to be better about responding to Freedom of Information requests. The researchers gets the data onli

One solution is for local/state/federal government archives to be better about responding to Freedom of Information requests. The researchers gets the data online, and the Archives finally get their materials digitized at no cost to them (the requestor bears the fair costs of digitization, the labor, and the shipping, if needed). Everybody wins! Source: I founded a small non-profit that does exactly this, and we've put more than twenty million never-before-public records online, uploaded to the Internet Archive, all public domain. https://www.reclaimtherecords.org https://www.reclaimtherecords.org