Do you really mean vital records - birth, marriage and death? State law determines how they must be kept, and for how long, but I think they have to keep them forever, unless they are duplicates? I don't think they can just get rid of them LOL If this is actually happening right now, you need to contact your state senator or state representative and find out what agency has authority over these records, and what the law actually is. However, I did learn that the naturalization records in Dubuque were about to be disposed of. They were transferred to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. I think the The Dubuque County Historical Society library is there. Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: "mckorgram" <mckorgram@mebbs.com> To: <IOWA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 10:02 PM Subject: [IOWA] Vital Records > Does anyone happen to know what courthouses can legally do with old vital records that they no longer want to keep? > >

My experience in the counties that I work in is that they have kept the records (I think that they are required to do this), but they may have been preserved only on micro-film or micro-fiche. The old books might have been destroyed, given away, turned over to the local genealogical or historical society or whatever. Some counties still have the original books, some have entered the data in a database and have created printouts of the indexes, ... many "creative" ways have been found. All five counties that I frequent (Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw, Floyd and Franklin) still have their books in the Recorder's Office and they are all open to public access. There apparently is no standard way that has to be followed. Don Woodley RAOGK Volunteer for Bremer, Butler, Floyd and Franklin counties. Researching Ayers/Ayres, Butler, Carpenter, Woodley on one side; Trindle, Cornford & Relf on the other.

Lisa, The same happened in Shelby and Crawford counties with the naturalization records. The recorders office rescued them and put them in there department. Hopefully, these old records will never be disposed of and given to genealogy departments that will take care of them. Phyllis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa Lepore" <llepore@comcast.net> To: <IOWA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 11:07 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] Vital Records > Do you really mean vital records - birth, marriage and death? > > State law determines how they must be kept, and for how long, > but I think they have to keep them forever, unless they are > duplicates? > I don't think they can just get rid of them LOL > > If this is actually happening right now, you need to contact your > state senator or state representative and find out what > agency has authority over these records, and what the law > actually is. > > However, I did learn that the naturalization records in Dubuque > were about to be disposed of. They were transferred to the > National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. I think > the The Dubuque County Historical Society library is there. > > Lisa > > >