Thought I would forward this press release regarding the digitalization of Cincinnati Birth and Death Records to this list. I look forward to August 2010. University of Cincinnati Libraries Press Release Contact: Melissa Cox Norris, Director of Library Communications, (513) 556-1558 or melissa.norris@uc.edu <mailto:%20melissa.norris@uc.edu> UC *Libraries Awarded a LSTA Grant to Digitize Cincinnati Birth and Death Records* October 1, 2009 - The University of Cincinnati Libraries have been awarded a $140,437 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the State Library of Ohio to digitize the birth and death records of the City of Cincinnati from 1865 through 1908. In partnership with OhioLINK, the 340,000 records will be scanned and made freely accessible on the Internet via OhioLINK's Digital Resource Commons (DRC) at http://drc.libraries.uc.edu/. The scanning will begin in October 2009 with access to the records beginning in August 2010. Each birth record contains the name of the individual along with birth date, race, gender, name and birthplace of father and mother, occupation of father, doctor or midwife, and hospital. For each death record the following information is available: name, age, date and cause of death, address, occupation, race, gender, attending physician, funeral home, and place of burial. The birth and death records, which are part of the collections of the Archives and Rare Books Library <http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/index.html>, are of great historical and genealogical importance. They are among the most heavily used research materials in the library. In the last year, the Archives and Rare Books Library received 3,000 requests for information from the birth and death records, representing 75% of genealogy reference service provided to the general public. "This scanning project will make an already valuable, much-used resource widely accessible to genealogists and the general public, as well as to social historians, epidemiologists, and public health historians," said Victoria A. Montavon, dean and university librarian. In addition to providing wider access to researchers in Ohio and around the world, digitizing the Cincinnati birth and death records will also preserve the 340,000 index cards created several decades ago by the Cincinnati Health Department after the original ledger volumes, also preserved in the Archives and Rare Books Library, became too fragile to handle.

Hi Tom. That is great news about the birth and death records. Thanks for sending it to the list. Margaret