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  • Records Requests
      • Connecticut
        • The Connecticut Genealogy IndexMore than 5.5 million genealogical records to search through...except for the ones the state still has locked up in an ancient FoxPro database they claim they can't use
          Records release mostly negotiated! But many still locked up in the state's archaic database system All received records online.
        • Close
      • Maryland
        • The Maryland Motherlode: Births, Marriages, Deaths, and NaturalizationsMore than five million records from the Maryland State Archives covering more than a century, both the basic text indices and full vital records certificates 🤩 most of them never publicly available online before
          Records released through successful Maryland Public Information Act request All received records online.
        • Close
      • Mississippi
        • The Mississippi State Death Index (1912-1943)One young genealogist's tenacity leads to thirty-one years of Mississippi state history finally going online
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • Missouri
        • Missouri Birth Index, 1920(ish)-2015They tried to charge us $1.5 million for a public records request. Then they decided to ignore the state Sunshine Law altogether.
          Litigation successful! Motion for Summary Judgment granted April 15, 2020
        • Missouri Death Index, 1968-2015They tried to charge us $1.5 million for a public records request. Then they decided to ignore the state Sunshine Law altogether.
          Litigation successful! Motion for Summary Judgment granted April 15, 2020
        • Close
      • Nationwide
        • Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death FileWhen a veteran dies, why was the index to their veterans benefits claims file locked up forever behind a $300/year commercial website's paywall?
          Litigation successful! All records online
        • Billions of Digital Images and Associated Text Metadata Created Through the United States National Archives and Records Administration’s Digitization Partnership ProgramWe want it all back.
          FOIA request filed with NARA on October 14, 2020
        • Social Security Applications and Claims IndexAlmost 100,000,000 public records have been available only through a $300/year paywalled commercial website. We're gonna change that.
          FOIA request filed with Social Security Administration on September 20, 2017
        • Close
      • Nebraska
        • The Nebraska Death Index (1904-1968)That time we successfully appealed to a state Attorney General while waiting to board an international flight
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • New Jersey
        • New Jersey Birth, Marriage, and Death Indices, 1901-1903 and 1901-1914We acquired and published the first public twentieth century vital records indices for New Jersey.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • New Jersey Death Index, 1904-2017Why should these records be available if you're onsite at the state archives, but not available on the Internet?
          Legal wrangling but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016We acquired and published the first-ever data set of everyone married in the Garden State
          Legal wrangling, but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • The New Jersey Geographic Birth Index and Delayed Birth Index, 1901-1929Homegrown in the Garden State
          Records release negotiated! No legal wrangling needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • New York City
        • All already-digitized New York City historical records and their associated text metadata. (Yes, all.)"Release The Kraken!"
          Litigation in progress! Case filed February 14, 2022.
        • Brooklyn (Kings County) “Old Town” RecordsWelcome to the single stupidest lawsuit we've ever had to file against a government agency
          Litigation in progress! Case filed October 15, 2018.
        • Geographic Index to New York City Births, late 19th to early 20th centuriesA new tool to find people born in New York City, especially if their birth records had spelling variants or poor handwriting
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York City domestic partnership records, 1993-2017?All people and all families deserve to have their genealogical records available to them.
          NY FOIL request in planning stage against NYC Clerk's Office
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1908-1929What do you do when a city archive won’t share its records with the public? Fight back. Read about our pilot project that started it all.
          Litigation successful! All records online.
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1930-1995Yes, you can fight city hall — and win! Of course, it helps if the city refuses to return your e-mails and calls until you take them to court.
          Litigation successful! All records online (minus Queens 1971-72 images)
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1996-2017Wait, you mean we’re gonna have to sue the same city agency again? Over the same records set? After they lost to us last time?
          Litigation successful! All records online
        • List of Registered Voters in New York City for 1924Historical voter data is often covered by Freedom of Information laws. We were the first to publish this often-overlooked resource online.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • New York City Birth Certificates, 1910-1917They're more than 100 years old, but NYC won't let us see them.
          NY FOIL request in planning stage against NYC DOH
        • New York City death certificates 1949-1968 and nullification of NYC DOH records access rulesRemember that time the NYC DOH ignored ~6,000 public comments unanimously in opposition to their terrible records access rules?
          Litigation in progress! Case filed April 17, 2019.
        • Close
      • New York State
        • Index to Deaths in Albany, New York, 1880-1915Corruption's such an old song that we can sing along in harmony, And nowhere is it stronger than in Albany
          NY FOIL request filed with Albany City Clerk's Office on September 6, 2017
        • Index to Deaths in Buffalo, New York, 1852-1944These records were sitting on a hard drive in a city government's Inactive Records Center, not online for public use. We fixed that.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to Deaths in Yonkers, New York, c. 1870-1915"Out there, there's a world outside of Yonkers..."
          FOIL Appeal (constructive denial) sent March 13, 2019
        • Index to New York State Births (Outside of New York City), 1881-1942Finally, New York researchers can ditch the microfiche sheets and join the twenty-first century.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York State Deaths (Outside of New York City), 1880-1956It took us seventeen months of fighting with the government just to get a list of the names of dead people.
          Legal wrangling but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York State Marriages (Outside of New York City), 1881-2017NYS DOH gave us only half of the files we'd requested, and initially they didn't even explain why. So we sued them -- and won!
          Litigation successful! Case filed August 24, 2018, judgment rendered March 13, 2019. CASE ON APPEAL BY THE STATE as of May 1, 2019.
        • Close
      • Washington
        • Washington State Marriage, Divorce, and Death Indices, c. 1907-2017The legislature now wants to lock away indices that have always been public. Nuh-uh.
          Washington PRA request filed with Dept. of Health, Secretary of State, and State Archives on January 30, 2019.
        • Close
      • Wyoming
        • Wyoming Marriage, Death, and Divorce Indices, 1900-1965Frozen in a snowbank outside of Laramie? We got your record. Thrown off your wagon team in Cheyenne? We got your record too.
          Coming soon...
        • Close
    • Close
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Public data for public use
Skip NavigationMenu
  • About
    • Our Board of Directors
    • Our Activism
    • Presentations, Slides, Videos, and Webinars
    • Press
    • Close
  • Our “To-Do” List
  • Records Survey
  • Records Requests
      • Connecticut
        • The Connecticut Genealogy IndexMore than 5.5 million genealogical records to search through...except for the ones the state still has locked up in an ancient FoxPro database they claim they can't use
          Records release mostly negotiated! But many still locked up in the state's archaic database system All received records online.
        • Close
      • Maryland
        • The Maryland Motherlode: Births, Marriages, Deaths, and NaturalizationsMore than five million records from the Maryland State Archives covering more than a century, both the basic text indices and full vital records certificates 🤩 most of them never publicly available online before
          Records released through successful Maryland Public Information Act request All received records online.
        • Close
      • Mississippi
        • The Mississippi State Death Index (1912-1943)One young genealogist's tenacity leads to thirty-one years of Mississippi state history finally going online
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • Missouri
        • Missouri Birth Index, 1920(ish)-2015They tried to charge us $1.5 million for a public records request. Then they decided to ignore the state Sunshine Law altogether.
          Litigation successful! Motion for Summary Judgment granted April 15, 2020
        • Missouri Death Index, 1968-2015They tried to charge us $1.5 million for a public records request. Then they decided to ignore the state Sunshine Law altogether.
          Litigation successful! Motion for Summary Judgment granted April 15, 2020
        • Close
      • Nationwide
        • Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death FileWhen a veteran dies, why was the index to their veterans benefits claims file locked up forever behind a $300/year commercial website's paywall?
          Litigation successful! All records online
        • Billions of Digital Images and Associated Text Metadata Created Through the United States National Archives and Records Administration’s Digitization Partnership ProgramWe want it all back.
          FOIA request filed with NARA on October 14, 2020
        • Social Security Applications and Claims IndexAlmost 100,000,000 public records have been available only through a $300/year paywalled commercial website. We're gonna change that.
          FOIA request filed with Social Security Administration on September 20, 2017
        • Close
      • Nebraska
        • The Nebraska Death Index (1904-1968)That time we successfully appealed to a state Attorney General while waiting to board an international flight
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • New Jersey
        • New Jersey Birth, Marriage, and Death Indices, 1901-1903 and 1901-1914We acquired and published the first public twentieth century vital records indices for New Jersey.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • New Jersey Death Index, 1904-2017Why should these records be available if you're onsite at the state archives, but not available on the Internet?
          Legal wrangling but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016We acquired and published the first-ever data set of everyone married in the Garden State
          Legal wrangling, but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • The New Jersey Geographic Birth Index and Delayed Birth Index, 1901-1929Homegrown in the Garden State
          Records release negotiated! No legal wrangling needed! All records online.
        • Close
      • New York City
        • All already-digitized New York City historical records and their associated text metadata. (Yes, all.)"Release The Kraken!"
          Litigation in progress! Case filed February 14, 2022.
        • Brooklyn (Kings County) “Old Town” RecordsWelcome to the single stupidest lawsuit we've ever had to file against a government agency
          Litigation in progress! Case filed October 15, 2018.
        • Geographic Index to New York City Births, late 19th to early 20th centuriesA new tool to find people born in New York City, especially if their birth records had spelling variants or poor handwriting
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York City domestic partnership records, 1993-2017?All people and all families deserve to have their genealogical records available to them.
          NY FOIL request in planning stage against NYC Clerk's Office
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1908-1929What do you do when a city archive won’t share its records with the public? Fight back. Read about our pilot project that started it all.
          Litigation successful! All records online.
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1930-1995Yes, you can fight city hall — and win! Of course, it helps if the city refuses to return your e-mails and calls until you take them to court.
          Litigation successful! All records online (minus Queens 1971-72 images)
        • Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1996-2017Wait, you mean we’re gonna have to sue the same city agency again? Over the same records set? After they lost to us last time?
          Litigation successful! All records online
        • List of Registered Voters in New York City for 1924Historical voter data is often covered by Freedom of Information laws. We were the first to publish this often-overlooked resource online.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • New York City Birth Certificates, 1910-1917They're more than 100 years old, but NYC won't let us see them.
          NY FOIL request in planning stage against NYC DOH
        • New York City death certificates 1949-1968 and nullification of NYC DOH records access rulesRemember that time the NYC DOH ignored ~6,000 public comments unanimously in opposition to their terrible records access rules?
          Litigation in progress! Case filed April 17, 2019.
        • Close
      • New York State
        • Index to Deaths in Albany, New York, 1880-1915Corruption's such an old song that we can sing along in harmony, And nowhere is it stronger than in Albany
          NY FOIL request filed with Albany City Clerk's Office on September 6, 2017
        • Index to Deaths in Buffalo, New York, 1852-1944These records were sitting on a hard drive in a city government's Inactive Records Center, not online for public use. We fixed that.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to Deaths in Yonkers, New York, c. 1870-1915"Out there, there's a world outside of Yonkers..."
          FOIL Appeal (constructive denial) sent March 13, 2019
        • Index to New York State Births (Outside of New York City), 1881-1942Finally, New York researchers can ditch the microfiche sheets and join the twenty-first century.
          No litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York State Deaths (Outside of New York City), 1880-1956It took us seventeen months of fighting with the government just to get a list of the names of dead people.
          Legal wrangling but no litigation needed! All records online.
        • Index to New York State Marriages (Outside of New York City), 1881-2017NYS DOH gave us only half of the files we'd requested, and initially they didn't even explain why. So we sued them -- and won!
          Litigation successful! Case filed August 24, 2018, judgment rendered March 13, 2019. CASE ON APPEAL BY THE STATE as of May 1, 2019.
        • Close
      • Washington
        • Washington State Marriage, Divorce, and Death Indices, c. 1907-2017The legislature now wants to lock away indices that have always been public. Nuh-uh.
          Washington PRA request filed with Dept. of Health, Secretary of State, and State Archives on January 30, 2019.
        • Close
      • Wyoming
        • Wyoming Marriage, Death, and Divorce Indices, 1900-1965Frozen in a snowbank outside of Laramie? We got your record. Thrown off your wagon team in Cheyenne? We got your record too.
          Coming soon...
        • Close
    • Close

New York State

Reclaim The Records vs. New York State Department of Health

Reclaim The Records vs. New York State Department of Health

In the summer of 2018, Reclaim The Records launched a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the New York State Department of Health to find out why they treated our Freedom of Information [...]

READ MORE
Index to Deaths in Yonkers, New York, c. 1870-1915

Index to Deaths in Yonkers, New York, c. 1870-1915

As a follow-up to our successful FOIL request to get the New York State death index 1880-1956, we turned our attention to the handful of missing years and localities in that index. One of those [...]

READ MORE
Index to Deaths in Buffalo, New York, 1852-1944

Index to Deaths in Buffalo, New York, 1852-1944

As a follow-up to our successful FOIL request to get the New York State death index 1880-1956, we turned our attention to the handful of missing years and localities in that index. One of those [...]

READ MORE
Index to Deaths in Albany, New York, 1880-1915

Index to Deaths in Albany, New York, 1880-1915

As a follow-up to our successful FOIL request to get the New York State death index 1880-1956, we turned our attention to the handful of missing years and localities in that index. One of those [...]

READ MORE
Index to New York State Births (Outside of New York City), 1881-1942

Index to New York State Births (Outside of New York City), 1881-1942

In September 2017, Reclaim The Records made a new FOIL request of the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH), asking for the first-ever public copy of the basic index to all births in New [...]

READ MORE
Index to New York State Marriages (Outside of New York City), 1881-2017

Index to New York State Marriages (Outside of New York City), 1881-2017

We won our Freedom of Information request for the New York State marriage index for 1881-1965! But then the New York State Department of Health refused to hand over the post-1965 marriage [...]

READ MORE
Index to New York State Deaths (Outside of New York City), 1880-1956

Index to New York State Deaths (Outside of New York City), 1880-1956

On January 3, 2016, Reclaim The Records submitted a FOIL request to the New York State Department of Health for a copy of the entire New York City death index, from June 1880 [...]

READ MORE
@ReclaimTheRecs on Twitter
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

Another update! The bill we helped develop and are supporting, to get scanned New York State historical records PUT ONLINE, to enshrine the indices as OPEN under state #FOIL, and to ENSURE access to historic records is moving! More progress!

https://assembly.ny.gov/leg/?default_fld=%0D%0A&leg_video=&bn=A08314&term=2025&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

Twitter 1924639531753734617
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

We already have an update on the newly-proposed law we're supporting in the New York State Legislature, the one we just told everyone about in our latest newsletter:

It now has a corresponding Assembly number (A08314) and sponsor: @AmyPaulin, Chair of the Committee on Health! 🥰

Twitter 1923109337691500574
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

🚨 Reclaim The Records is working on A BRAND NEW LAW in the New York State Legislature! 🚨

We want to finally FIX New York State historical records access, and put it all online for everyone!

And we need your help!

Read our latest newsletter:

Twitter 1922351447397511463
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

We did it! 🥳 And now we want to do more -- A BRAND NEW BILL to finally fix records access in New York State! -

Twitter 1922350660332249316
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

We're going to be announcing some GOOD news soon.

Here's a hint. 😉

Twitter 1922105533449805975
Retweet on Twitter Reclaim The Records Retweeted
hchesner Michelle Margolis @hchesner ·

I encourage you to take a look at this: https://apps.neh.gov/PublicQuery/ and enter the search terms of your area of interest. 10s of 1000s (100s of 1000s?) of incredible projects supported over the last century.

Twitter 1915750682042237338
Retweet on Twitter Reclaim The Records Retweeted
hchesner Michelle Margolis @hchesner ·

In the last two weeks, I’ve had an in-process grant cancelled, a workshop that I was supposed to teach at cancelled, and a grant proposal rejected without review.

National funding agencies support work that then comes back to the people. One of the requirements for the IMLS…

Twitter 1915742348236988867
Retweet on Twitter Reclaim The Records Retweeted
dearceres Smoke @dearceres ·

@ReclaimTheRecs I appealed, and got notice today that on second search they found records for me! Thanks again!

Twitter 1906783011632267439
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

on trend

Twitter 1905085153652990352
reclaimtherecs Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecs ·

thinking about buying 23andme and then uploading all the genomes to the Internet Archive

Twitter 1904240787451478508
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Reclaim The Records is an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Our EIN is 81-4985446. Contact us at [email protected]

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