From Eastmans Genealogy Newsletter http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/09/access-to-virginia-vital-records-threatened-the-public-comment-deadline-is-october-6-2011.html The bureaucrats are at it again. A few state officials in Virginia wish to restrict access to vital records held by the Virginia Department of Health. The proposal is to close the birth records for 100 years, with marriage and death records closed for 50 years. After these time periods, the records are supposed to be turned over to the Library of Virginia (LVA), though the Virginia Department of Health has tried to delay this. The Records Preservation and Access Committee, a joint committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Genealogical Society, and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, is strongly opposed to this action. Writing for that committee, Peter E. Broadbent, Jr., former President of the Virginia Genealogical Society, has published a Memorandum to the Genealogical Community that describes the problems and provides suggested courses of action. You can read a PDF file of the "Memorandum to the Genealogical Community" at http://goo.gl/NREby http://goo.gl/NREby -- "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb." - Benjamin Franklin - _ _... ..._ _ _._ ._ ..... ._.. ... .._

Unfortunately, this isn't anything new. Many states already have this limitation in some form or another. In Louisiana, for instance, the birth record has to be 125 years old before you can access it unless you are a parent, grandparent, child or grandchild of the individual (and you have to prove it) and it is 50 years for marriage and death records. In Mississippi, records after 1962 are limited (don't know why that day was chosen, but anyways....). In Texas, it's 25 years on deaths (don't know about births and marriages). In North Carolina, it's open -- if the record exists, you can get a copy of it (unless the record is sealed by court order). Now Virginia has a treasure trove of records! They have birth and death records from 1852 to 1898 (or some such) and then it became too expensive to maintain those records until 1912 (or some such) and they have them from that time on. Marriage records they never stopped maintaining once started, as that was considered a "contract". By the way, you can obtain copies of the microfilm through your public library! I tried it and just about went batty -- every time I went to the library to access the microfilm, all of their readers were being used by others. They only had two and one was, well, let's say, it wasn't the greatest. Jeanne/jmh --- On Mon, 9/26/11, Billie Walsh <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Billie Walsh <[email protected]> > Subject: [TTTP] Access to Virginia Vital Records Threatened > To: "Trails To The Past" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, September 26, 2011, 7:27 AM > From Eastmans Genealogy Newsletter > > http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/09/access-to-virginia-vital-records-threatened-the-public-comment-deadline-is-october-6-2011.html > > The bureaucrats are at it again. A few state officials in > Virginia wish > to restrict access to vital records held by the Virginia > Department of > Health. The proposal is to close the birth records for 100 > years, with > marriage and death records closed for 50 years. After these > time > periods, the records are supposed to be turned over to the > Library of > Virginia (LVA), though the Virginia Department of Health > has tried to > delay this. > > The Records Preservation and Access Committee, a joint > committee of the > Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National > Genealogical Society, > and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical > Societies, is > strongly opposed to this action. Writing for that > committee, Peter E. > Broadbent, Jr., former President of the Virginia > Genealogical Society, > has published a Memorandum to the Genealogical Community > that describes > the problems and provides suggested courses of action. You > can read a > PDF file of the "Memorandum to the Genealogical Community" > at > http://goo.gl/NREby > > http://goo.gl/NREby > > -- > > "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have > for dinner. > Liberty is a well-armed lamb."     - > Benjamin Franklin - > > _ _...  ..._ _ > _._  ._  .....  ._..  ...  .._ > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > subject and the body of the message >