Reclaim the Records

We mentioned "Reclaim the Records" during the Internet Archive presentation at a recent workshop. Ann shared that she has set up a notification for additions to a particular area of interest for her family research. The following announcement appeared in the Dick Eastman blog this week.


"Greetings from Reclaim The Records! We’re that scrappy little activist group of genealogists, historians, journalists, and open government advocates, fighting for better public access to government-held genealogical and historical documents. And today, we’re pleased to inform you that we just won our fourth lawsuit! We fought the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) for the index to marriages performed in the state of New York post-1965, and after seven months, a judge has now ruled in our favor.


This means that the basic index to millions of marriages in New York State will become available to the public. They’ll go online for free public use, without any paywalls or subscriptions or usage agreements. That’s because we at Reclaim The Records never charge anyone for records access; instead, we work to bring public data back to the public."


If you visit the website, you can see the current list of records available and also check on the progress of the group as they continue to advocate for records access.  www.reclaimtherecords.org.